2007 Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA

Ripe nose but very convincing build with all the building blocks in place. Chewy still but great vibrancy. Acidity much more marked than in most California Cabs.Drink 2016 - 2036jancis_robinson_mw, JancisRobinson.com (Sep 2011)

(13.1% alcohol) Bright ruby-red. Pungent, fresh scents of currant, mocha, tobacco leaf, graphite minerality and brown spices, plus a whiff of leather. A penetrating, youthfully tight midweight with a lovely claret-like balance of currant fruit, minerals and herbal, tobacco-leafy elements. Smooth in texture but enlivened by elevated, almost peppery acidity. Finishes with an element of energy and finesse I don't find in many high-octane Napa Valley examples from this vintage, but then this is a less massive style of Cabernet. The persistent finishing flavors blow past the firm tannins but there's little in the way of easy sweetness today. In fact, I suspect this wine is passing through a sullen stage.Drink 2020 - 2033Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com.com (May 2017)

Blueberries, currants and flowers. The nose just pops out. Intense. Full body, with a round and velvety tannin structure and lots of currants, ripe strawberries. Very intense every. Black pepper at the finish. Muscular yet toned. Very structured yet balanced. This needs a minimum of four to five years of aging. Paul Draper says that perhaps this is as great as the legendary 1991. Made for aging.james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (Apr 2012)

Reflecting on the 2007 Monte Bello, Eric Baugher describes the year as a vintage that almost didn't happen. Until the eve of harvest, everything was going well, with a large crop ripening in balmy conditions. In late September, however, cold weather retarded ripening, with wet and wintry October weather only relenting on the 23rd, when temperatures returned to the high 80s. Due to such extended hang time, seeds were hard and woody, so it was difficult to extract much tannin, but that tannin was of very high quality. Today, the wine is beginning to show superbly, wafting from the glass with a lavish, creamy bouquet of crme de cassis, ripe plums, blackberries, black truffle and loamy soil. On the palate, it's full-bodied, fleshy and expansive, its generous core of fruit framed by rich, melting tannins and underpinned by the freshness and energy that this site always seems to capture. As it approaches age 11, the 2007 is an elegantly voluptuous vintage of Monte Bello that bears analogies with the lovely 1991. The blend is 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc, and it attained 13.1% natural alcohol and was cropped at around two tons per acre.William Kelley - 31/05/2018

A retaste of the flagship wine, the 2007 Monte Bello (a blend from this famous estate of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) reveals a dense ruby/purple wine with a floral, blueberry, and earthy cassis nose and elegant mid-weight flavors with impressive purity and classicism. There is good acidity, firm tannin, and modest alcohol (13.1%). This is not the most concentrated or powerful Monte Bello, but one built on finesse and elegance. According to the back label, only 41% of the production made it into this wine from the 103-acre estate vineyard. Give this wine another good 5-7 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 20-25 years. (robert_parker - Wine Advocate # 193 -Feb 2011)