#VineWatch14: A Haircut for Monte Bello!
The clippers have come to Monte Bello! Quite a change from last week, no? As for our friend up at Lytton Springs? Nothing like a post-rain Sonoma vinescape! And that, my friends, is your Week 3 with...
View ArticleIt’s Midnight. Do You Know Where Your Blog Is?
I do. Geyserville! Which means, tomorrow, Lytton Springs! That’s right, rockers, tomorrow “4488: A Ridge Blog” is Lytton By The Dock Of The Bay, Lytton The Jug, and Once Lytton Twice Shy, Babe! Or, as...
View ArticleOnce Lytton, Twice Shy, Babe …
The Monte Bello Retail Sales & Hospitality Team was today able to make a rare and wonderful trip to Lytton Springs, and it was an adventure sure to be long-remembered. We walked the Lytton West and...
View ArticleIt’s Good To Eat Lunch With The President!
With The President … … of Ridge, that is! And there was food too! And speaking of food & wine, between that beautiful meatball sandwich above, and the following: which would you think would have...
View ArticleNatural Jazz, Natural Wine
I do not wish to wade into “natural” waters per se, but I will say that I understand why the term both is and isn’t important; when it comes to wine, or anything else. There is, of course, the...
View ArticleA Winemaker’s Conception
In studying The Jazz, one will often come across discussions of a musician’s “conception.” What does this mean? Many a critical theorist has deployed the term, and Eric Nisenson, for example, in his...
View ArticleA Nutty Food Pairing …
No, not nutty-crazy, nutty-nutty. Meaning, with nuts! With apologies to the allergic amongst you, this is a post in praise of nuts. Why nuts? Because they’re a bridge ingredient. How? Because their...
View ArticleWine Either is, or Isn’t, Just A “__________”
What word do you suppose fills in the blank? Drink? I was thinking “Product.” Wine either is, or isn’t, just a product. If it is, then it’s just price break to quality, and a rating. That’s all you...
View ArticleArriving Las Vegas
That’s what our VP of Vineyard Operations was doing this morning. Arriving Las Vegas. Why? Zinfandel, of course. And specifically, expressing the terroir of. Officially, it looks like this: And how...
View Article#VineWatch15: Week 5! The Late Edition -or- Green Grass And High Vines Forever!
Greetings all! Running a few days late with these photos, for which I apologize, but would you look at that green grass and those blue, blue skies! ~ And that, my friends, is your Week 5 with...
View ArticleI Found My Thrill …
Spoiler Alert: –Ridge Vineyards and Blue Hill (in New York) are teaming up for an EXTRAORDINARY wine & food event on March 25th, and you can find out all about it on Blue Hill’s Facebook page,...
View ArticleReminder: Monte Bello Closed This Weekend For Sold-Out Member Event!
Please note, our Monte Bello Estate is closed this weekend for a sold-out Member Event! Our apologies for any inconvenience caused, but if I may, might a suggest that it is accordingly a lovely weekend...
View ArticleImpressions of the Monte Bello Collector Component Tasting!
The Annual Monte Bello Collector Component Tasting ~ On behalf of all who here at Ridge/Monte Bello, to all who attended this most special of annual events, we say thank you! Thank you Wine Gods … …...
View ArticleWhen The North Came South: Lytton on the Mountain
Our very lovely colleagues to The North (i.e. Lytton Springs) recently paid a very welcome visit to Monte Bello, and with the much-appreciated contributions of Eric Baugher (VP of Winemaking/Monte...
View ArticleFriends Don’t Let Friends Rhone Alone (and with THIS event discount, no one...
Bills got ya down? The Man treadin’ on ya? Feeling the pinch, and tightenin’ yer belt? Been in the breadline, and sufferin’ a drought-out? I feel ya. It’s hard out there. Everyone has to make...
View ArticleThe Tasting Will Not Be Televised, The Tasting Will Be Live!
Actually, it sort of WILL be televised, at least in a kind of contemporarily modern sort of interwebby way; i.e. it will be streamed. But most importantly, the tasting will be LIVE! Say what? Live...
View ArticleBehind The Scenes of the Live Virtual Tasting …
As our Live Virtual Tasting was playing out on the far side of the black soundproofing behind us, our “live studio audience” (comprised of some of our very wonderful wine club members!) enjoyed the...
View ArticleUmami, Lytton Springs, & The One Place You NEED To Be Today
Breaking News, Breaking Image, this is LIVE from the Spring Release Celebration at Lytton Springs. This is Right Here, Right Now! Spring Release Celebration @ Lytton Springs Date: 4/5/2014 Spring is an...
View ArticleCelebrating 50 Years of Zinfandel!
50 years! Do you know what was happening 50 years ago? As but a few examples: President Lyndon Johnson inaugurated the “War on Poverty” “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles hit the #1 spot in the...
View Article#VineWatch14: Week 11! Sustainability & Star Wars
I am sitting here with Kyle Theriot as I write this, our Viticulturist at Monte Bello, and in his words, we are in “full scale weed control.” To deal with the challenges of weed control in vineyards as...
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