2008 assemblage: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon & 28% Merlot

"The 2008 Monte Bello is marked by the drought vintage, which not only made a more concentrated crop but also deprived the blend of all supporting varieties, as only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot handled the dry conditions sufficiently gracefully to make the final cut. At age ten, this muscular Monte Bello is finally beginning to unwind, offering up rich aromas of black cherry, cassis, dried mountain laurel, loamy soil and burning embers. On the palate, it's full-bodied, expansive and powerful, its generous, sweetly fruited attack giving way to a taut, firm mid-palate that doesn't show as much finesse as the 2010 or 2012, concluding with a long, stony finish. Baugher observes that in its youth, the 2008 was "monolithic and more angular—a mouthful of tannin." A decade later, it's beginning to soften, but it still requires another 5 or 6 years of bottle age. Drink 2023 - 2043.
95+ points." William Kelley, Wine Advocate, Robertparker.com (May 2018)

In 1886, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Monte Bello estate vineyard was planted, and winery construction begun. A first vintage from the young vines followed in 1892. During Prohibition (1920-1933), the vineyard was not fully maintained; some vines survived into the late 1930's, but by the 1940s they were effectively abandoned. Eight acres of cabernet sauvignon were replanted in 1949. These were the source of the first Ridge Monte Bello (1962). Since then, the vineyards on the ridge have gradually been replanted.

Winter was short; two storms provided the season’s rainfall. In April, a late frost delayed the season. Temperatures soared in May and the vines set a modest crop. Natural malolactics finished in December, the majority in barrel on the lees. In January, seventeen cabernets and four merlots were combined; in May we added a structured cabernet and an elegant merlot. Two years of limited rainfall, and the resulting stress, produced a wine of amazing depth. Its complex secondary characteristics will develop over the next ten to twenty-five years.