2006 - Ridge Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains

A dark, brooding beauty, the 2006 Monte Bello is still very, very young. The aromatics alone are enticing, but the tannins still need time to soften. The 2006 is a masculine, vertical Monte Bello that demands cellaring. Even so, it is pretty impressive today. Scents of lavender, sage, mint and savory herbs add closing flourishes. The perfumed sweetness of the fruit - one of the hallmarks of the very late harvest - remains one of the signatures of the 2006. The 2006 can be enjoyed today or cellared for another 25+ years.

As it approaches age twelve, the 2006 Monte Bello is still quite reserved on the nose and on the palate, unwinding in the glass with a bouquet of cassis, cherries, pencil lead, dark chocolate, cigar box and dried rose petal. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and still firmly structured, carrying considerable extract and concluding with chalky grip. Rich, concentrated and powerful, the raw materials are very impressive but they're still wrapped up in some formidable structure. Eric Baugher describes the 2006 Monte Bello as "a sleeper vintage: backward and tannic when it was young, and released in a challenging economy," and that's the case today. Like the 1995 vintage, I suspect this will be a Monte Bello that really hits its stride at age 20 rather than age ten, but patient consumers with time on their side should give it serious consideration.

68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Winter was wet and cold through April, but May’s warm weather let the vines set a full crop. Summer was unusually warm; picking began on September 18, ahead of schedule, though a cool October slowed ripening. Harvest 18 September to 20 October. Gentle destemming, no crushing. (In 36 separately fermented lots, roughly half the berries remained unbroken.) Indigenous-yeast primary and secondary fermentations. Pressed at eight days on average. 18 months in barrel (97% new air-dried American oak, 3% new French oak).Bright dark garnet with real lift on the nose. Love the savoury notes as well the ripeness. So appetising! Quite a contrast to the 2008. Long and classic. Monte Bello at its best for current drinking? Very, very long. (JR)