Geyserville 2023

A perennial standout for the winery that is produced for wider distribution, the 2023 Zinfandel Geyserville is a blend of 70% Zinfandel, 18% Carignane, 9% Petite Sirah and 3% Alicante, the 2023 a highly ageable vintage with great acidity. That freshness helps to define the wine's juicy core of well-mannered, supple tannins and oak, the wine aged entirely in 100% air-dried American oak, 15% of it new. It truly offers the perfect balance of dark fruit and freshness, within a full-bodied richness and structure still built for aging, as with all Ridge wines. Enjoy now through 2033. Set in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a second winery and vineyard acreage in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley called Lytton Springs, Ridge made its first Monte Bello in 1962 (the Monte Bello Vineyard dates back to 1885) and is devoted to single-vineyard winemaking, what it calls “pre-industrial winemaking,” organic and sustainable farming, and full transparency; it is one of the few wineries to list ingredients on its back labels. Winemaker Paul Draper joined in 1969. The winemaking team today consists of head winemaker John Olney, who has been on the team since 1996, Lytton Springs winemaker Shauna Rosenblum, and assistant winemaker Michael Bairdsmith. It remains one of the great names in California wine, celebrated for making ageable wines.

Score: 95

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 20225-2033 04 January 2025