I've had better bottles, but as it approaches its 15th birthday, the 2003 Monte Bello is beginning to look like one of the weaker vintages of the new millennium—and certainly of this tasting—exhibiting rich and already evolved aromas of roasted dark fruit that include hints of fig and prune, as well as classic nuances of cigar wrapper and espresso roast. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied and still structured around rich tannins, balanced by bright acids, but it's showing more evolution than the 2002 or the 2004 vintages that bookend it. Baugher believes that he may have picked prematurely in this vintage, suggesting that phenolics were out of sync with sugars. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot, and it attained 13.2% natural alcohol.

The 2003 Monte Bello goes from strength to strength. A blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot, it exhibits a dense opaque purple color as well as a big, sweet nose of creme de cassis, blackberries, and subtle smoke and new oak in the background. Full-bodied and concentrated with beautiful texture, purity, and depth, this powerful Monte Bello should be exceptionally long-lived. It will hit full maturity in 10-15 years, and should last for 30 years. Ridge’s iconic Monte Bello Proprietary Red (no longer called Cabernet Sauvignon) is one of the candidates for the longest-lived Bordeaux blend made in California. Even vintages from the late sixties and early seventies are still vibrant wines. The winery owns just over 100 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon vines, and production varies enormously based on the mountain climate. With respect to this group of wines, the smallest yields were achieved in 2005, and the highest in 2007. The selection process here is relatively severe. For their Monte Bello, the flagship wine, 32% of the production was used in 2003, 38% in 2004, 49% in 2005, 39% in 2006, and 41% in 2007. These wines continue to be anomalies in the sense that the Cabernet Sauvignon component is aged in American oak, a somewhat contrarian procedure since most top producers long ago moved to French oak. The Santa Cruz Mountains cuvees, essentially a second wine culled out from Monte Bello, are also high quality efforts from Ridge. Each of the vintages I tasted reflects the vintage conditions in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Three 2008 barrel samples reveal a consistent, high quality style with slightly more elevated alcohol contents.Tel. (408) 867-3233; Fax (408) 868-1350