2004 Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel, Sonoma County, California

You deserve better photography, and perhaps we should take the label shots before we drink the wine. Please be patient with us.

A couple weeks ago we tried the Ridge Syrah, a limited production wine from a winery that is highly respected for its Zinfandels. That Syrah rocked our world, and winecommando gave it a solid 10 rating. I am going to buy a case of it for the small basement room that we call the "cellar."

It's the Zinfandels, though, that everyone talks about from Ridge. I've had several from them including the Lytton Springs, Geyserville and Pagani Ranch. They are all consistently excellent. We had not tried the Three Valleys Zinfandel, though, and were excited to give it a taste.

The name "Three Valleys" for this wine is to signify that it is blended from multiple vineyards. The wine itself is a mix of 68% Zinfandel, 11% Carignane, 10% Syrah, 7% Petite Sirah, and 4% Grenache. You can bet that a tremendous amount of effort and tasting went into figuring that blend out. The grapes that Ridge chooses for this wine are from the more accessible of the lots from their single vineyards. This wine is made from grapes grown in the vineyards of Lytton Springs, Dry Creek, Geyserville, Mazzoni, Stone Valley Ranch, and Pagani Ranch. It was fermented in classic Ridge style, meaning with the natural yeasts and minimal intervention.

We opened and decanted the wine without tasting right away. It's a Zin, I figured we shouldn't rush it. After about 30 minutes we poured a couple glasses. The first thing that struck us was the color. Deep, dark red. So dark that it is almost black towards the center of the glass. The nose was full of grape jelly, a tinge of sharper raspberry, and a scent I can only classify as wet hay or wet grass. The nose was wonderful. I also picked up a little black pepper. We had read a review of this wine earlier and it said something about "briar" in the nose. I have no idea what briar smells like and can't tell you that we picked that one up. What the hell does briar smell like? I want to know.

The palate was exactly what we thought it would be, given the nose. It was concentrated and rich, though the wine was surprisingly medium bodied. You think Zinfandel and you conclude, typically, big and heavy bodied wines. Not so here. Dare I say, this Zinfandel is ELEGANT? Must be the blend. Anyway, the palate had round jammy strawberry and chocolate, if you smoke cigars you might recognize just the slightest tobacco type taste. I don't really smoke cigars, but we have these friends who always foist them on me when we get together and I tend to oblige, much to Cat's chagrin.

The finish on this wine is long, and overall it was especially pleasing. It is not incredibly sophisticated, nor is it exceptional. It is solid and for the price delivers an excellent experience. It would be terrific with grilled beef, chili, or even tacos.

cost - $22.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 8

2003 Ridge Lytton West Syrah, Dry Creek Valley, California

After having such a terrific experience with the De Lisio shiraz we were excited to keep the momentum going with non-French syrah. I found this one by Ridge and didn't hesitate picking it up. Though Ridge has produced a syrah since the mid-1990's, those were only for sale at the winery and this is the first vintage to be released outside of the winery. That's pretty cool. I have tried several of the zinfandels from Ridge over the years, and they consistently rock. We aren't drinking much zinfandel these days, but when we do the Ridge Geyserville, Pagani Ranch and Lytton Springs zins will be top of my list. But I digress.

We'd not tried the Ridge syrah, but figured that they would bring the same quality, intensity and attention to detail to this wine that they do to their zinfandels. We were correct in that assumption. This wine was absolutely fantastic and it stunned us. But first, a little history...

The Ridge vineyards date back to the 1880's, which in the American wine industry is a very, very long time ago. In 1885 Osea Perrone (viva Italia!) purchased about 200 acres of land along the Monte Bello ridge (monte bello is Italian for beautiful mountain). I'm seeing a connection between Italians and great syrah here... but that's just me. Osea terraced the land and planted the first vines himself. He built a small winery and set about making his first wines under the name of the Monte Bello Winery. Fast forward to today and the land has changed hands a couple of times, various parcels have been acquired or sold off and have had a variety of different vines planted across it. This original vineyard has also become a key vineyard property in what is now Ridge Wines. In terms of their techniques, Ridge has always been somewhat of a rebel and has made wines with approaches very different than their other Californian neighbors. Oddly, this has a lot to do with Prohibition, which cleaved Californian winemaking from its historical roots. Post Prohibition, many winemakers experimented by collaborating with the agricultural universities and worked to technologically change winemaking. Ridge did not subscribe to this approach, and during the sixties began focusing on a winemaking process that is natural and eschewed technology. This approach is really pretty simple and starts with creating the best fruit, fermenting in small lots with naturally occurring yeasts and nurturing the wines along throughout the winemaking process. It is an approach that is passionate, intense and laborious. Their wines consistently show the benefits of these efforts.

The Lytton West Syrah is no exception. It is intensely dark with a full, enticing nose. There is lots of fruit (strawberry... like strawberry preserves) in the nose, but all of it is balanced by an earthy quality. Both of us said "Wow!" out loud as we were smelling it and before we had even tasted it. Cat was wide eyed. We drink good wine, but this is really, really good wine and we both knew it. On the palate this syrah is rich and complex, though still medium bodied. A perfect and flexible food wine, I could see this with beef or pork tenderloin, Moroccan cuisine, or even a spirited salmon prep. The wine just kicks ass. The palate, while full, has a fantastic finish. Not cloying or over the top like many Californian syrahs, it finishes quietly with just lingering hints of the fruit and a little bit of spice. Interestingly, this wine is also made with 9% viognier - a white Rhone varietal. This may be what keeps this syrah from being over the top. For a wine that is such a powerhouse it finishes with subtleness and elegance. Delicious? Yes. Well-rounded? Yes. Memorable? Definitely. Both Cat and I loved this wine and highly recommend it. We also love the label design and find it to be classic, like it was designed by Pentagram.

cost - $36.99

winecommando rating (1-10) - 10 (solidly!)