Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

This is California Cabernet with its volume turned down and its detail turned up. Blackberry and cassis sit at the core, but the real interest comes from the layers around them: black olive, bay leaf, mint, cedar and a dusting of cocoa and warm American oak. The 2023 growing season was unusually cool and prolonged, and that freshness is immediately apparent on the palate. Firm, finely drawn tannins give the wine plenty of architecture, while vivid acidity cuts through the dark fruit and carries savoury notes of herbs, graphite and spice into a long, controlled finish. Powerful, certainly, but never cumbersome.

The fruit comes entirely from Ridge's organically farmed Monte Bello estate high in the Santa Cruz Mountains – essentially offering an earlier-drinking window into one of California's great vineyard sites. The 2023 blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, fermented with native yeasts before spending 17 months in American oak, 55% of it new. At just 13.4% ABV, it feels refreshingly classical by modern Californian standards. Ridge suggests the vintage has around fifteen years of development ahead of it, although there is already plenty to enjoy with decanting.

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