Leslie Williams: The wonderful wines of Ridge
My wonderful and much-loved Aunt Daphne died recently and left me a small legacy — enough to pay off my credit card, paint the bathroom, and a few hundred to spend on wine.
At least herself will get some benefit from the wine — surely a more family-friendly hobby than say golf.
Speaking of golf, I was recently at a wonderful dinner in Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh — I wasn’t there for golf but to taste the wonderful wines of Ridge who first came to fame at the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting where Californian wines outperformed the best wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Ridge is imported by Nicholsons in Crossgar and is on allocation but well worth seeking out (and blowing a legacy on).
Ridge Estate Chardonnay 2016 is from a north-facing slope on limestone soil and has rich toasted creamy lemon aromas as you might expect from California but also pristine pure fruit flavours with wonderful textured elegance.
This was matched with some Kilkeel crab and scallops with fennel which brought out some herbal notes in the wine.
The star of the night inevitably was the Ridge Montebello 2006 served with local Fermanagh beef. The 2006 has been re-released in limited quantities and is a blend of 71% Cab with 27% Merlot and a touch of Petit Verdot.
Despite being almost a teenager, this showed lovely youthful vigour with concentrated black fruits, supple cherry and chocolate touches, layered savoury dark fruits on the palate and lingering spice and smoke.
Spit is coming to Cork’s River Lee Hotel next week on April 11 from 11am to 5pm.
This is a trade only tasting event but worth sneaking into if you can find a wine trade buddy to tag along with.
Spit features four excellent importers all of whom appear on this page regularly — Grape Circus, Wine Mason, Nomad Wines and Vinostito (see their Mencía below). www.spit.ie
As it is Easter Sunday tomorrow I’ve only recommended red wines — Ridge of course plus a favourite from the Languedoc and a stunning Mencía which is the house wine in Glover’s Alley restaurant (review next week).
SuperValu have a number of wines on offer as usual and if you buy any six bottles there is an extra €10 discount.
BEST VALUE UNDER €15
World Wide Wines, Wine Centre, Baggot St Wines, Whelehans, Green Man, 64, Martins, DrinkStore
Bierzo is a series of small valleys in north western Spain producing textured complex whites from Godello and juicy fresh reds from Mencía.
Perez is a bit of a legend in the region and this remarkable wine is a steal at this price — packed with fleshy red and black fruits, supple and complex.
SuperValu
I’ve mentioned Torres lots of times but it seems I’ve never mentioned this old warhorse of theirs which is on offer in SuperValu for Easter at a fantastic knockdown price.
A blend of garnacha and carineña with lots of soft spicy blackberry fruits and lingering coffee and liquorice touches.
Sicillane
SuperValu
This is reduced from €19 for Easter (with a further reduction if you buy any six bottles).
Made from partially dried grapes including Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese plus some merlot and cabernet.
Packed with blackcurrant and spicy dark fruits, rich and full and one of my favourite SuperValu wines.
BEST VALUE OVER €15
Sweeneys, Whelehans, La Touche, James Nicholsons Crossgar www.jnwine.com
Lytton Springs is the Ridge wine I’ve tasted most often. It is a field blend with 74% zinfandel (2015), petite sirah, carignan and mourvèdre.
It has juicy dark fruits with balancing acidity and blackberry intensity that the Lough Erne kitchen matched beautifully with some rare Thornhill duck.
Sweeneys, Donnybrook Fair, James Nicholsons Crossgar www.jnwine.com
Formerly known as Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains this is effectively Montebello’s second wine made from 65-year-old vines on the same estate and blended with a little merlot, petit verdot and cabernet franc.
Rich ripe black fruit aromas and cedar notes. A remarkable wine, California at its best.
O’Briens
This is reduced from €23 this month in O’Briens along with around 100 other wines including some good Bordeaux including the second wine of Lynch-Moussas for €23.
From organic grapes this is a blend of 40% each syrah and mourvèdre plus grenache this has dark ripe fruit aromas, concentrated but elegant fruits and lingering red berries on the finish.
