Ridge Vineyards Geyserville, Sonoma County 2020

One of California's greatest estates, Ridge Vineyards sits 800m up in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking San Fransciso's Silicon Valley. Here is their Monte Bello vineyard which was first planted in the 1880s but which fell into disuse during the Prohibition period. It wasn't until the early 1960s when a group of academics from Stanford University who were passionate about wine bought the site and started to, once again, produce wines from here. Also during the '60s they started making wines from Geyserville about 100 miles further north in Sonoma County. Possibly the most important event in Ridge's history was in 1969 when they hired a self taught winemaker, originally from Illinois, by the name of Paul Draper. Under his stewardship Ridge established themselves a worldwide reputation for both their Bordeaux based blends, mainly from Monte Bello, and peerless Zinfandels grown in their various Sonoma vineyards. Paul remained at the helm for several decades until, having reached the age of 80, retired from front line operations in 2016. Their success can largely be attributed to a natural, non-interventionist approach and a willingness to adapt their methods so as to best express the changing character of the vineyard and climate conditions from year to year. Their's is not a dogmatic attitude, but one aimed to make the best wines conditions allow. In 2021 John Olney was appointed head winemaker and COO at Ridge. He first started with the company in 1996 and working as part of Paul Draper's team for several years is steeped in the estate's values and looks well set to continue its success.