Pasta dinner features Premium Napa Red & White Wines

Pasta dinner features Premium Napa Red & White Wines

We were invited to Sunday Night dinner at Son Alec’s and D-in-law Vivianna’s. We were joined by son Sean and D-in-law Michelle. 

This allowed our four grand-daughters a chance to be together with their cousins - so much fun, and so important to their bonding together and learning to play with near aged kids. 

Alec and Viv prepared a delicious Bugatini pasta with a lobster vodka cream sauce with lobster medallions.

Prior to dinner we enjoyed several artisan cheeses that Sean’s and we brought - a baked cheese, an aged Gouda, and a truffle infused goat cheese - all great pairings with the evening’s wines. 

I brought from our home cellar one of our currently favorite drinking Chardonnays and Alec opened a big Napa Red. 

I’ve written often in these pages about the fun we have with the ‘V’ labels from various producers, most notably Kirk Venge. This big rich flavorful may be at its peak right now and shows as one of the best Chardonnay’s in our cellar right now, ideally paired with the rich pasta sauce and lobster medallions. 

Not ironically, we opened this same label with a similar dinner for the Christmas holiday dinner a couple of years ago with the same folks. I wrote about that dinner and this wine and producer in detail in a blogpost in these pages at that time, excerpted below - Venge Brown Ranch Chardonnay.

For Christmas eve dinner, Linda prepared a delicious lobster bisque soup with medallions of lobster. I pulled from the cellar this Venge Napa Carneros Chardonnay for an accompaniment. We were joined by Alec and Vivianna for a festive intimate dinner. 

The name Venge has been synonymous with Napa Valley wines for as long as I have been of drinking age since the '70's, but the Venge family wine affiliation actually goes back much earlier, to when Knud Venge emigrated from Denmark to the United States in the early 1900’s. Knud's son, Per Venge, entered in the wine and spirits business and started Vencom Imports, focusing on importing Western European wines and spirits. Per's son, Nils Venge, started in, then left the family business in the 1960's to study viticulture at UC Davis and set the family name in the California winegrowing community.

The Venge family planted viticultural roots in 1976 with the purchase of a 17-acre estate in the Oakville District that was planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, establishing them among the winemaking pioneers of Napa Valley.

Buddy, AJ with Nils and Kirk Venge

We met Nils and Dianna Venge on numerous occasions at Napa events and visiting the Venge Vineyards in Oakville during the nineties. We first met their son, Kirk Venge, who engaged in winemaking from an early age while they were developing the Rossini Ranch Vineyards, Winery and caves up in Calistoga. We visited Nils at the Penny Lane Family Reserve Vineyard in Oakville, then drove up to meet Kirk at the Rossini Ranch site in the eastern foothills of Palisade Mountain near Calistoga back in 2002. 

Kirk took over Venge Vineyards in 2008 and has established himself as a talented winemaker making wines in his own style. Kirk has continued the Napa Valley heritage crafting wines from select vineyard sites across Napa and Sonoma Counties worthy of bearing the Venge family name.

We've been collecting Venge wines since their earliest days. We now have fun collecting them with their notable "V" branding to enjoy with our daughter-in-law, Vivianna, as her 'signature' wines.  

We also enjoyed this wine, BYOB, recently with seafood at BeachWalk Cafe in Destin (FL) during our vacation getaway -https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2024/10/henderson-beachwalk-cafe-dinner-with.html

Venge Vineyards Brown Ranch Vineyard Los Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018 

This is a single vineyard designated label sourced from the 30 acre Brown Ranch Vineyard in Carneros, named for the previous cattle rancher owner Nadine Brown. The vineyard is bordered by HdV’s Hyde Vineyard and Beaulieu’s Vineyard No.9 on Old Sonoma Road in the Carneros district, straddling the rolling hills in the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the nearby San Pablo Bay, combined with the abundant midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing elegant wines that combine power and finesse, with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.

The property, formerly associated with Saintsbury Winery, was purchased in 2012 by the Renterias. 

The property was planted with twenty nine acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but most of
the vines were afflicted with Eutypa, a fungi disease also known as the Dead-arm Dieback, which causes trunks or arms of the vines to essentially rot and die. Like the famous Dead-Arm Shiraz label from McLaren Vale, Australia, rather than pulling the vines out, the vineyard managers kept the rootstock, cut off the trunk just above the soil and nurtured a bud to grow into a new trunk. Like the Dead-Arm label, focusing all the mature rootstock energy into one vine branch resulted in rich, full, concentrated fruits. 

The Brown Ranch’s hillside alluvial soils, with Dijon Clone 76 set into the pre-existing rootstock, produces this rich full round Chardonnay, worthy of the iconic Venge name.

Winemaker's notes: The Dijon Clones are modern strains of Chardonnay carefully isolated from grapevine nursery blocks in France. These strains are selected for their incredible ability to produce the best of what the varietal has to offer and therefore have become quite popular with cool climate growers today. The cool and often foggy climate of the Brown Ranch Vineyard, located in central Carneros, Napa, allows for a slow growing season and optimal ripening. This climate aids in the balancing of acidity and lifting tropical aromas in the fruit and thus, in the finished wine. The vines were carefully hand harvested and delivered cool to the winery.

 

Winemaker's Notes: "This wine is stylish and freshly balanced, featuring a light, pale straw presence in the glass with a bouquet of fresh orange citrus, toasted pine nuts, mild allspice, rocky flints, and toasted oak. Crisp, savory pineapple, sweet delicious apple, savory stone fruit, and ripe pear lead into mouthwatering deliciousness. 

The grapes are blended into used French Oak barrels according to a Burgundian style of winemaking, light handed on the usage of new French Oak keeping it to an average of 45%.

495 Cases were Produced

This release was rated 93 points by Wine Enthusiast and Jeb Dunnuck and 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. 

Golden lemon colored, medium to full-bodied, full, round, concentrated, complex opulent fruits with a layer almost bordering on butterscotch, accented by notes of baking spice, hints of lemon, grapefruit, ginger and a touch of peach and almond nut cream, with bright acidity, depth and balance on a full long finish. 

RM 93 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3517412

https://www.vengevineyards.com/

@VengeVineyards  

Alec then opened this big Napa Red from Beau Vigne Cellars

Beau Vigne “CULT” Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

This is from the Beau Vigne portfolio of Napa Valley Cabernets that Alec, son Ryan and I all hold in our cellars. Beau Vigne was founded by Ed and Trish Snider in 2002 and quickly gained notoriety on a parade of rave reviews, such as Robert Parker calling it “one of my favorite wineries,” and over in the ensuing years, his Wine Advocate time and again honoring it with scores of 96–98+ points.

We’ve featured Beau Vigne wines in detail in earlier blogposts in these pages - Beau Vigne Reserve Proprietary Red Wine.

Interesting that Kirk Venge, who produced our Chardonnay tonight, was winemaker at Beau Vigne for a period. Initially, it was first-class winemaker Dave Phinney, then Kirk Venge, and then followed by current winemaker Julien Fayard who crafted this 2019 release.

 

This 2019 CULT release is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grown on Beau Vigne’s gravelly estate vineyard in Rutherford and their impeccable site on the Oakville Bench that neighbors To Kalon, Missouri Hopper, and Martha’s Vineyard. For the final blend, he hand-selected barrels to create a wine that shows its exceptional quality in every sip.

Winemaker notes for this release - “Deep-purple in color, the 2019 Beau Vigne CULT Cabernet shows penetrating blackberry and blueberry aromas accented by rich notes of mocha, allspice, Maduro tobacco, and black licorice. Full-bodied and opulent, it’s built on firmly gripping tannins that complement the texture of the ripe black fruits and slide into a long and savory finish.”

While the Chardonnay complemented the lobster medallions, this rich full round full bodied red enhanced and illuminated the rich pasta sauce - both ideal pairings which amplified the enjoyment of both the food and wines. 

This 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Cult is the 11th Anniversary release of this label. It is composed of 99% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Petit Verdot. The producer states. “We think is the finest CULT produced to date.”

It was aged twenty months in French oak barrels, 80% of which were new, then blended from select “best lots dedicated to captivating flavors profiles.”

Winemaker notes - “Crushed black currant and bing cherry aromas. Among these scents are black licorice, clove, and melted dark chocolate. Flavors of shortbread, blackberry, and plum hit the palate. Loamy black truffle elements add layers of savoriness to the long finish.”

It was rated 93 points by Vinous who called it the “finest wine I have tasted from Beau Vigne.” It received 92 points by Wine Advocate and 91 points by Jeb Dunnuck. 

Don’t be taken aback by the $150 published price from the producer, their wines are often deeply discounted in special promotions and can be found discounted in distribution, even at Costco. Newcomers to fine wine often mistake that obtaining wine directly from the producer will get them the best deal. It’s the aim of the producer to set the price and associated value of the wine, avoiding undermining such with their direct pricing strategy.   

Deep garnet colored, full bodied, rich, round, forward bright vibrant black currant and plum fruits accented by notes of licorice, graphite, lavender, spice and leather with a full tannin laced lingering finish. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?4179405

https://www.beauvigne.com/

Red and White for Surf and Turf

Red and white wines for surf and turf dinner - Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc and Pirouette Red Blend

Mid-week dinner, we grilled on the deck, T-bone steaks with medallions of lobster. I pulled from the wine cooler a half bottle Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc to pair with the lobster, and from our cellar, this premium Bordeaux Blend to complement the steaks.

Both the lobster tails and the beef steaks were sourced from local grocer Mariano’s and were unfortunately disappointing. (We are spoiled from having had a family owned farm raising beef cattle from which, for decades, we would regularly get a quarter from a carefully selected cow to be butchered to our specifications.) 

Before dinner we had caprese salad with home grown basil and garden tomatoes. 

Matanzas Creek Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc 2018

I opened this Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc from a small format 375ml half bottle.  This is from Matanzas Creek Winery who for four decades have “focused on creating site-expressive wines”, the technical notes show this is sourced from no less than four vineyard sites spread across the wide Sonoma County appellation. 

This is from the vast portfolio of Jackson Wines, dating back to when Jess Jackson & Barbara Banke acquired the historic property and brand back in 2000. 

Matanzas Creek Winery has a storied history dating back to its founding in 1977 by socialite Sandra MacIver, the daughter of a scion of the historic Sears Roebuck and Company, and husband Bill, with Merry Edwards as the founding winemaker.

The first Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc was produced in 1980. 

In 1984, in a prescient move, they planted what became known as the the Jackson Park Vineyard, with 90 acres of the iconic Pétrus Merlot clone. 

In 1989, the notable David Ramey was appointed winemaker who went on to establish ‘pedigree of outstanding 90+ point wines’. 

In 1996, Wine Spectator named founder Sandra MacIver one of the 20 most influential people in the modern wine industry. 

Current winemaker Marcia Torres-Forno was appointed in 2011. 

Today, Matanzas Creek Winery produces a dozen labels from modest entry level to premium offerings of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot Noir as well as a Rose and sparkling wine, part of the broad Jackson portfolio of estates and brands. Their wines are “derived from nine different vineyards whose fruit has been individually harvested, fermented, and evaluated to create a shining example of what Sonoma County has to offer.”

Matanzas Creek Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc 2018

Crafted by winemaker Marcia Torres Forno, this Sauvignon Blanc is an interesting blend of 86.2% Sauvignon Blanc 9.5 % Sauvignon Musque and 4.3% Semillon. It is sourced from several vineyard sites across the Sonoma County appellation region: 56% Knights Valley, 25% Alexander Valley, 12% Dry Creek and 7% from Bennett Valley. 

Winemaker notes: Pale Straw colored, aromas of: fresh pineapple, white peach skin, white lily, jasmine, Oroblanco grapefruit, passion fruit. Flavors: guava, honeydew melon, shinko pear, jasmine, citrus blossom. Palate of light but flavor dense, this wine dances across the palate prompting salivation and a desire to take another sip.

This has a nice QPR - Quality Price Ratio in this casual pleasant sipper which should be readily available with 22,100 cases produced.

This release was rated 91 points by Wine Advocate.

I found this was surprisingly bright and vibrant with texture and buttery notes more like a Chardonnay.

Pale straw colored,  light to medium-bodied, Wine Advocate calls it “gregarious and energetic” - lacking polish and balance, round and bright, flavorful notes of buttery stone fruits, white and yellow peaches, quince, wet stone and hints of pineapple and citrus and subtle layer of spice with tangy acidity on a lingering mineral finish. 

RM 88 points. 

This was nicely paired with the caprese salad and stood up well to the rich flavorful buttery lobster. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?3370763

https://www.matanzascreek.com/wines

With the steak course, I opened this premium Bordeaux Blend. I love a more complex blend such as this to complement a hearty steak which we served with baked potato and sweet potato. .  

Long Shadows, Vintners' Series, “Pirouette” Columbia Valley Red Wine 2015 

Label from 2016

We discovered and acquired this wine during our visit to the Long Shadows tasting room in Woodinville during our Washington State Woodinville Wine Experience in 2018. 

In accordance with the Long Shadows Vintner Collection program, this was produced by legendary winemakers Philippe Melka and Agustin Huneeus, Sr., “who teamed to combine the traditions of old world winemaking, the advancements of new world technology, and small lots from Washington State’s finest vineyards to craft this enticing red blend”, as noted on the rear label.

Comparable to much more expensive, sophisticated Bordeaux Blends, this is a fraction of the cost, Pirouette, is a tribute to the Long Shadows project, and provides a high QPR - Quality Price Ratio value afforded to Columbia Valley wines.

This vintage release is a Bordeaux Blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 11% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. It was fermented in barrel and aged 22 months in 75% new oak.

This received 95 points from reviewer Jeb Dunnuck, 93 points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate and Vinous, and 92 points from Wine Enthusiast.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate said of this wine - “Of all the Long Shadow’s wines -- Michel Rolland's included -- this would be the most at home in contemporary Napa Valley.”

“Deep in color and complexity, this wine combines expressive red fruit aromas with dark chocolate and blueberry flavors accented by hints of oak spice that evolve across the palate. A juicy yet beautifully balanced wine with a rich mouthfeel and persistent finish.”

Dark purple garnet color, medium-full body, round and flavorful black currant and black raspberry fruits accented with blue fruit notes, bitter dark mocha chocolate and cassis with hints of clove spices, tobacco and graphite with firm but approachable tannins on a long lingering finish. 

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?2777748

This showed consistently as a tasting earlier this year of this label.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/02/long-shadows-duo-showcase-katy-business.html  

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3107408

https://longshadows.com/ 

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Naperville

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Naperville 

Son Ryan and D-in-law Michelle treated us to dinner at Gordon Ramsey's RK Kitchen in downtown Naperville (IL). This was our first visit to the trendy restaurant that opened in our hometown last summer to much fanfare. 

Readers of these pages know I write often about dinesites and our food and wine restaurant experience. But, up until now I've not had a metricized qualitative or quantitative rating or review system against which to evaluate and compare such restaurants. Based on tonight's, and recent experiences, I felt such a evaluation method with criteria was required and after much thought devised a system to try. 

Using my new system, I evaluated tonight's dining experience. I then went back and retrospectively scored a half dozen recent restaurant experiences as a basis of comparison, evaluating the evaluation system, so to speak. 

Here are my criteria for evaluating a restaurant dining experience, and the associated weight applied to each:

Food - 35 - Selection, quality, creativity or ingenuity, presentation, course pairing, wine pairing

Wine - 35 - Breadth and depth of selection, range of options at various price points, suitability and applicable pairing with the dinner courses

Ambiance - 10| - atmosphere, vibe, comfort, stylishness, general aura

Service - 10 - delivery, attentiveness, professionalism, attitude, overall experience

Value - 10 - value for quality, service, atmosphere, experience

Wow Factor - Lastly, what I simply call the WOW Factor - additional scoring, weighting based on special consideration or  extra credit factors that contribute to the overall experience such that they warrant attention - food and wine pairing - site architecture, location, historical significance, specials ... other ... potential for +10 points

So, here we go, for tonight's experience - 

Food  - 31 - Food was superb in creativity, ingenuity, preparation, quality - downgraded the rating for the only thing lacking, bread or depth of selection choices - only the limited menu choice detracting from score.

Wine - 31 - Same as food, the minimalist winelist offered various options for each course, at multiple price points, but lacking depth and breadth of multiple choices for minimal options for effective wine pairing with each course.

Ambiance - 8 of 10 - chic, stylish, artful, warm, lively and vibrant but a bit noisy and boisterous for optimal comfort. 

 

Service - 9 of 10 - Starting with the host station, going the extra meal to seat us promptly, attending to checking our coats, superb food service, adequate wine service. 

Value - 5 - Expensive, especially taking into account the ala carte sides, and the somewhat limited number of options or alternatives. 

WOW Factor - 8 points extra credit for the up-beat, stylish, quality fixtures, furnishings, layout, design, artfully designed and implemented for a positive experience. 

Total - 92 points.

Our dinner - 

We started with a Wedge Salad which they conveniently served almost family style like a chopped salad making it easy and convenient to share around the table.

Wedge Salad- iceberg, blue cheese, glazed bacon, roasted tomatoes, pickled red onion, chives.

With the salad course we had from the WBTG offerings two sparkling wines - 

Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rose'

Lanson Brut NV Champagne 

For our main source entree selections, we had to try the house specialty, Ramsey's signature dish, the Beef Wellington.

Beef Wellingto, potato purée, glazed baby root vegetables, red wine demi, served medium rare.

RK offers a Daily Special so in the spirit of trying out the gourmet chef's selections, Linda ordered the daily special - Lobster Pot Pie -butter-poached lobster, lobster bisque filling served aside for preparation at the table by the diner, pouring into the puff pastry.

We ordered two side dishes, Potato Puree with sour cream and chives, and the Roasted Heirloom Carrots with harissa yogurt, za’atar, brown butter, marcona almonds and mint.

For dessert we ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding -warm date cake, sweet cream ice cream and english toffee sauce.

Our wine accompaniment pairing with the dinner was a robust full bodied Red Blend. 

Ridge Lytton Springs Red Blend 2021

Once again, as happens often, we drank this same wine, from our cellar, about this same time, two years ago, almost to the day for another dinner tastings - Ridge Vineyards "Lytton Springs" Dry Creek ValleyZinfandel 2014. At that time, I wrote about the producer and wine in these pages, Ridge Vineyards  and Lytton Springs.  

We always keep a selection of big robust fruit forward wines for pizza and barbecue - Zinfandels, Syrahs and Petite Syrah varietals to name a few. We typically hold a half dozen different labels from the various offerings of Ridge Vineyards.

Ridge Vineyards are a legendary producer of a broad portfolio of wines with an extensive line-up of Zinfandels, all from single vineyard designated label sites. 

Ridge has a rich history dating back to 1885 when Osea Perrone, a doctor and prominent member of San Francisco's Italian community, bought 180 acres near the top of Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There, he planted vineyards and constructed a winery of redwood and native limestone in time to produce the first vintage of Monte Bello in 1892. The historic building remains to this day serving as the Ridge production facility.

Ridge have been producing Lytton Spring vineyard wines since 1972 with 100 plus-year-old Zinfandel vines interplanted with Petite Sirah, Carignane, a small amount of Mataro (Mourvèdre), and Genache. The site has produced the quintessential example of Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. 

The Lytton Springs site lies just north of the town of Healdsburg, just west of Highway 101 in the Dry Creek Valley. The topography consists of a benchland and gently rolling hills. The climate provides foggy mornings turning to warm, sunny afternoons and breezy late evenings. Soils are varied with a predominance of gravelly clay, which aids in moisture retention, ensuring that the grapes ripen slowly. The Lytton Springs terrior with weathered, agronomically poor soils in the benchland have proven to be an ideal site for Zinfandel vines to produce classic Zinfandel varietal wines.

The Lytton Springs vineyards were part of land once owned by Captain William Litton, who during the last half of the nineteenth century developed the springs and built a hotel just east of the vineyard for San Franciscans who arrived by train to “take the waters.” 

According to the producer's website, Long after the death of Captain Litton, controversy continued in regards to the change from “i” to “y”, as the accepted spelling of the Litton property. According to the text of Once Upon a Time by Julius Myron Alexander, the spelling was changed “because it was proper”. Then, in a 1969 Press Democrat article, Healdsburg City Clerk and local historian, Edwin Langhart, offered a different opinion, “It appears the name was changed in error by a draftsman or some other official, and it has stayed ‘Lytton’ ever since:’ Whatever the reason, records show that by 1896, most official documents had adopted the ‘Lytton’ spelling.

Ridge Vineyards dates back to 1959 when three scientists from Stanford University's Research Institute (SRI) and their families formed a partnership and bought a property owned by Dr. Short up on Monte Bello Ridge high atop the Santa Cruz Mountains. One of them, David Bennion, made a half barrel of cabernet from the ten year old vines. The partners re-bonded the winery and named it Ridge Vineyards in 1962. That year they produced their first Monte Bello vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ridge produced its first Zinfandel in 1964 from 19th century vines on the Pichetti Ranch near the base of the Monte Bello Ridge. Ridge produced it's first Sonoma County Geyserville Zinfandel in 1966, from vines planted in 1882. By 1968, production had increased to just under three thousand cases per year.

Paul Draper joined the partnership as winemaker in 1969. He was a Stanford graduate in philosophy, and a practical winemaker, not an enologist. His knowledge of fine wines and traditional methods complemented the straightforward “hands off” approach pioneered at Ridge. He had recently returned from setting up a winery in Chile’s coast range. He oversaw the restoration of the old Perrone winery and vineyards acquired the previous year. 

He first saw the Lytton Springs vineyard in 1972 and, based on its age with 80 years old vines, purchased grapes and produced Ridge’s first Lytton Springs bottling that year. In 1991, on the 20th anniversary of their first vintage, Ridge purchased the Lytton Springs winery and the old vines surrounding it, making it a true estate vineyard.

Paul Draper went on to become a legend with Ridge Vineyards. The Ridge brand grew to a broad portfolio of more than four dozen single vineyard designated label wines from more than two dozen different vineyards. They operate two wineries and hospitality sites, Lytton Springs in Healdsburg up in north Sonoma County and Monte Bello high in the Santz Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley. 

Paul Draper retired in 2016 at age 80, after 47 years as winemaker. Ridge continued on expanding with additional vineyard site purchases include the purchase that year of Whitton Ranch, a 36-acre parcel in the heart of Geyserville.

Ridge Vineyards "Lytton Springs" Dry Creek Valley Red Blend 2021

This is a single vineyard designated label, sourced from the Lytton Springs vineyard in Northern Soboma County. The vineyard lies just north of Healdsburg on the benchland where the gently rolling hills separate Dry Creek from Alexander Valley. 

Lytton Springs is named after Captain William H. Litton and two naturally occurring springs that were located on the original property. Litton worked as a ship’s pilot in the San Francisco Bay in the mid nineteenth century before acquiring the large tract of land in 1860. The property straddled the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys that extended from the southernmost boundaries of Geyserville to the northern limits of the fledgling town of Healdsburg, with the Russian River serving as its eastern boundary. The property was originally part of the Rancho Sotoyome land grant of the 1840’s. By 1867, Captain Litton was considered the fourth largest property owner in Sonoma County. 

In 1872, the San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railroad linked Healdsburg and points north with the Bay area. In an attempt to attract tourists, Captain Litton and three partners built a resort hotel on the site in 1875, known as “Litton Springs” for the popular soda springs that were located half a mile uphill from the original hotel site. The naturally carbonated seltzer, or sweetwater, springs were considered to have medicinal value for their mineral properties. The springs still exist today and their presence was one of the primary reasons that underground caves were never built underneath the winery.

Captain Litton sold the 2700 acre property, including the hotel in 1878. Over the next couple of decades, the resort property was bought and sold and subdivided into smaller parcels by various owners. 

 According to the producer's website, “It appears the name was changed in error by a draftsman or some other official, and it has stayed ‘Lytton’ ever since:’ Whatever the reason, records show that by 1896, most official documents had adopted the ‘Lytton’ spelling.

 The vineyards were first established on the property in 1901 with the hillside vineyard blocks on the eastern portion of Lytton Springs, followed by vineyard blocks on the flats in 1910. To this day, Lytton Springs is home to those 100-plus-year-old Zinfandel vines interplanted with Petite Sirah, Carignane, a small amount of Mataro (Mourvèdre), and Grenache.

 The site is ideal for Zinfandel with foggy mornings, warm, sunny afternoons and breezy late evenings. The agronomically poor soils are gravelly clay which holds moisture ensuring that the grapes ripen slowly. 

This label was first produced in 1972.

I write regularly in these pages about the pairing of wine with food. This wine was too bold and rich for the Beef Wellington, which would've been better suited with a more balanced and finely integrated Red Blend. 

This vintage release is a red blend of 72% Zinfandel, 15% Petite Sirah, 9% Carignane, 2% Alicante Bouschet, 1% Cinsaut and 1% Counoise.

This label release was awarded 95+ Points by Antonio Galloni of Vinous, 94 Points by Zinfandel Chronicles and 94 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com, and 93 Points by Owen Bargreen, OwenBargreen.com.

Winemaker Notes

"Rich blackberry and plum on the nose with notes of aniseed. Full-bodied with dark bramble fruit and well-coated tannins on the palate. The long finish reveals layers of black licorice and dried sage.'

"Lytton Springs has become synonymous with classic Dry Creek zinfandel. It shows potent, ripe boysenberry and blackberry, but also a pronounced rusticity and earthiness often attributed to its blending varietals; petite sirah and carignane. Acid and tannin are firm, yet not overwhelming; in youth, at least, fruit predominates. This balanced, powerful wine becomes more nuanced with age, and it often holds for more than a decade."

Dark ruby colored, medium full bodied, a cacophony of bright, vibrant expressive, full round ripe red and black brambly fruit flavors accented by sweet spices, clove and cinnamon, full tannins on the finish. May be better with some age to further integrate.

RM  92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4578675 

https://www.ridgewine.com/product/2021-lytton-springs/

https://www.ridgewine.com/

https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/en/us/ramsays-kitchen/menus/naperville

https://twitter.com/GRamsaysKitchen

@RidgeVineyards