In Praise of Ridge Geyserville

My wife Kim and I have been devotees of Ridge Geyserville for over two decades now, and you have to admit, there’s something to say for one of the truly great wines of California that still sells for under $40 while so many others have escalated dramatically in price well beyond that.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the “Geezer” isn’t a Cabernet, Merlot, Meritage or Pinot Noir, but rather a Zinfandel based red.  Or maybe not; after all, there are Zins out there that sell for $50, $75 and more, so maybe it’s more about Ridge CEO/Winemaker Extraordinaire Paul Draper and his staff taking the same balanced approach to pricing their wines as they do with making them.

Geyserville is delicious upon release, but unlike many Zins and Zin blends, its true strength lies in its ageability.  They are referred to as field blends; often, but not always, they could legally be labeled as Zinfandel, comprising 75% or more in their makeup, with lesser, varying amounts of Petite Sirah, Carignane, Alicante and Mataro, the inclusion of which is usually credited for giving the wines their firm backbone for long term aging.  Back in 2002, Kim and I had the tremendous good fortune to take part in a tasting of these going back to the 1976 vintage (the very year that I tried my first Zin, and the 11th bottling of Ridge Geyserville), and if some weren’t quite as good as others, there wasn’t a dog in the bunch, and many were brilliant.  The rule of thumb is usually to give them about 10 years from the vintage date to really show what they’re made of.  Often, they take on a smooth, claret-like character reminiscent of mature Bordeaux, although, I must admit that the lovely 1997 Geyserville is still showing plenty of that rich, spicy black raspberry character that could only come from a Zin-based wine, while fully integrating the more overt American oak qualities that I found a bit awkward in its mid-term.  This is a great wine that still has a fascinating evolution ahead of it.

We have a term to describe the bouquet that a glass of Geyserville, or indeed just about any Ridge wine exudes, including their terrific-but-mostly-under-the-radar Chardonnays, (at least until the recent Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2007 beauty pageant awarded the Ridge Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains Santa Cruz Mountain Estate 2005 the BIG #2), and that is “Draper perfume.”  It refers to a consistent charm and style statement that has been a constant since Paul Draper began to put his stamp on these wines in the early ‘70s.  You have to experience it to get an idea of what I’m talking about, if you haven’t already, and I mention it here because of the 2005 Ridge Geyserville 40th Anniversary Vintage now available at a very nice price from Winebuys.    

2005 Ridge Geyserville Sonoma, 77% Zinfandel, 17% Carignane, 6% Petite Sirah, 14.6% alc., $27.50: Good color, if not quite as dark as Geyserville always is, with a mélange of Draper perfume, including briar-bramble, raspberry and cherry graced with a pretty kiss of oak on the expressive nose. The flavors echo and expand with a solid core of typically ripe fruit; this is full-bodied, yet sleek, and deceptively structured with silky tannins and good acids. Not the biggest Geyserville, but it’s certainly a very fine one, and Kim agrees, describing it as “eminently drinkable” and “very cherry.” (I‘ve never had a wine that she characterized as eminently drinkable that I didn’t love.) As one might expect, it gets better with a few hours of air, and a few years in the cellar should do this 40th Anniversary edition even better.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the ’97 I mentioned above, here are my brief impressions of that one from earlier this month:

1997 Ridge Geyserville; 74 % Zinfandel, 15 % Carignane, 10 % Petite Sirah, 1 % Mataro, 14.9% alc.: Still showing good dark color, this 10-year old blend has once and for all shed the excess oak that beset it during its early years, now offering the obligatory Draper perfume over delicious raspberry and mulberry. There’s still a rich core of fruit here, with no secondary characteristics as of yet; a wine of great balance and drinking beautifully right now.  Great Geyserville!

Cheers,

The Winebuys Guy

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