Located on the San Andreas fault line, barrels of Zinfandel used to jump around the winery during the 1970’s, or maybe it just seemed that way to the dope smoking, free thinkers of Ridge Vineyards who revolutionised the way this grape was seen through their masterfully complex Geyserville and Lytton Springs bottlings.
To celebrate the 40th year anniversary of Geyserville, the importers of Ridge and president, Don Giesson, held a small series of lunches in London, pouring past and present vintages of the wines to an appreciative group of sommeliers, merchants and journalists.
Our dinner was held at the Farringdon bistro, Vinoteque, where we escaped from work to enjoy some superb food and wine matches, culminating in a brilliantly slow-cooked lamb paired with the prodigious Montebello 1997, a wonderfully mature specimen of this outstanding terroir, full and elegant with a St-Estephe-like palate of mineral and spice.
Don proved a very amiable host, with an almost evangelical zeal for the wines, and why not?
The 2005 vintage we tasted from was one of the best for a long time, and we heard how the Santa Cruz was described by winemaker Paul Draper as being ‘as good as the top third of Montebello’s’, high praise indeed but certainly warranted by what we tasted in the glass. After some quality cheese and a top up, it was multiple espressos all-round and a dash back to work for a decidedly woozy-headed afternoon’s work from the participants.
A Great Lunch Courtesy of Ridge
Located on the San Andreas fault line, barrels of Zinfandel used to jump around the winery during the 1970’s, or maybe it just seemed that way to the dope smoking, free thinkers of Ridge Vineyards who revolutionised the way this grape was seen through their masterfully complex Geyserville and Lytton Springs bottlings.
To celebrate the 40th year anniversary of Geyserville, the importers of Ridge and president, Don Giesson, held a small series of lunches in London, pouring past and present vintages of the wines to an appreciative group of sommeliers, merchants and journalists.
Our dinner was held at the Farringdon bistro, Vinoteque, where we escaped from work to enjoy some superb food and wine matches, culminating in a brilliantly slow-cooked lamb paired with the prodigious Montebello 1997, a wonderfully mature specimen of this outstanding terroir, full and elegant with a St-Estephe-like palate of mineral and spice.
Don proved a very amiable host, with an almost evangelical zeal for the wines, and why not?
The 2005 vintage we tasted from was one of the best for a long time, and we heard how the Santa Cruz was described by winemaker Paul Draper as being ‘as good as the top third of Montebello’s’, high praise indeed but certainly warranted by what we tasted in the glass. After some quality cheese and a top up, it was multiple espressos all-round and a dash back to work for a decidedly woozy-headed afternoon’s work from the participants.