I've been hearing about Ridge Vineyards for years, but I'd never had a chance to check out their tasting room before recently. My friend Lucre at robberbarron in SF, loves the Ridge Vineyards Zinfandels. On her good advice, I decided to pay them a visit.
Ridge Vineyards has a huge array of wines, so I decided to try their tasting menu. I also added a few extra Zinfandels to the mix, which I've been dying to try. In short, their Zins were awesome! My favorite was the Hooker Creek 2014 Zinfandel. This wine is from their Sonoma property, Hooker Creek, in Healdsberg Ca. It's a really special wine that's made from a blend of all of the varieties of grape in a field. In this case, the Hooker Creek 2014 Zin is 2% Alicante Bouschet and 2% Petite Sirah — the rest is the glorious Zinfandel.
One of the things I loved about the Hooker Creek 2014 Zin, is Ridge's use of American oak. While French oak has more typical flavors of baking spices (cinnamon, clove and nutmeg,) American oak tends to add flavors of vanilla, coconut, cream soda and sometimes, a hint of dill — uncommon flavors for this type of wine, but something unusual and special. I really like American Oak and I was happy to hear that Ridge is bold enough to use it!
This wine was still young, but it had very impressive flavors, and a fantastic, creamy mouth feel. The 2014 Zin is a juicy mix of black cherry, dark plum and dried herbs. I brought home three bottles and I can't believe I already drank two!
Please check out Ridge Vineyards — go for a tasting or find a few bottles to sample on their website — you won't be disappointed!