Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/859549
122 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 strawberry, forest floor notes and a Bergamot tea–like zest. An edgy, flowery yet meaty 2013 Big Basin Rattlesnake Rock Syrah flashed woodsy, sagebrush-like dis - tinctions in a terroir-influenced fashion we w ould experience throughout our Santa Cruz Mountains visit. Mount Eden Vineyards. At 2,000 feet, the historic Mount Eden sits on one of the highest peaks of the original Chaine d'Or. Proprietors Jeffrey and Ellie Patterson treated us to a Chardonnay vertical of magnums from 1999 (lemony tart, shim - mering, Puligny-like purity), 2000 (more flesh y and opulent), 2005 (ethereal as lemon meringue) and 2013 (coiled, creamy, concentrated), illustrating the ferocious intensity and longevity of their native yeast– fermented estate bottlings. During lunch on the deck overlooking the fabled 40-acre property, we also tasted an exotically spiced (like peppercorns ground with lavender), sumptuous 2005 Mount Eden Estate Pinot Noir, plus the hugely concentrated (at just 12.5% alcohol) 2001 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, weav - ing blackcurrant and earthy, manzanita/ chaparral-like sensations. Ridge Monte Bello. How do you top a visit to Mount Eden? With a drive up Ridge Vineyards' Monte Bello, the highest point of the AVA. There, Ridge COO/winemaker Eric Baugher told us: "We are standing at about a 2,700 feet, in a Region I climate. The cold climate plus limestone soil helps the grapes hold on to their acids. Picking often goes into November. In some years—like 1979, 1982 and 1983—Monte Bello is not even produced. Or they end up like the 1987, which was bottled but then recalled and declassified; in that year, the Cabernet was just 11% alcohol." Cabernet Sauvignon Tasting. In a show - ing of Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignons taking place in Ridge's tasting room, we tasted the Ridge Monte Bello 2005, 2013 and 2014; all of the wines achieved the classic, muscle-bound, pungent licorice/anise and black tea–like charac - teristics associated with this California classic—the '05 with a little sweeter anise and cassis, and the '13 and '14 even more concentrated and harmoniously layered with cedar and strapping young tannin. We also tasted an amazingly black- colored (for a 16-year-old wine), earth- and acid-charged 2001 Kathryn Kennedy Estate Cabernet Sauvignon alongside a more velvety yet equally concentrated 2012 from Kennedy's original 1973 planting. Another standout was the 2012 Mount Eden Estate Cabernet Sauvignon—gloriously perfumed with concentrated cassis, black tea and almost resiny dried herbs. On the more gentle side, the rare 2009 Woodside La Questa Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (from 1880s vines) expressed cedary blackcurrant and a scrubby, dried herbiness with zesty, medium-bodied finesse. Sommelier Jienna Basaludu, of Sacramento's 58 Degrees & Holding Co., recalls, "I kept hearing the expression 'air-roir' thrown around during the tasting at Ridge—a con - cept I find totally rad." The floral yet resiny/ woodsy, meaty, moderately weighted 2013 Lexington (by Thomas Fogarty) Cabernet Sauvignon seemed to capture that terroir- driven quality, as did the 2013 Burrell School Dean's List Cabernet Sauvignon's violet, blackberry and dried sagebrush–like notes. In the 2011 House Family Cabernet Sauvignon, cassis notes were tempered by a minty scrub - biness and unusually peppery (for Cabernet) spice, tucked into a steely medium body (13.2% alcohol). The 2013 Left Bend Fellom Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon—from a 2,400- foot elevation Monte Bello Road planting— was a little bigger (14.3%), retaining a savory wild scrubbiness embedded in humongous blackcurrant. We tasted a Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay vertical from 1999 to 2013 from magnums with owner-grower-winemaker Jeffrey Patterson. A view of Ridge Vineyards' Monte Bello, the highest point of the AVA. This photo was taken at the South Twin Peak.