Wine Blends Part 2: The Monte Bello, An Iconic Blend
By: Rachel Woods
Tags: Data Visualization, Data Journalism, Data Science, Wine

To understand the nuances of wine blending, I had the chance to talk with Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards, maker of one of the most iconic New World Blends — the Monte Bello.

Some background on the Ridge Monte Bello

The Judgement of Paris is arguably one of the most well known and impactful events in the history of California, and frankly US, winemaking. The original blind tasting occurred in 1976 where California wines beat out their French counterparts, taking first place in both the red and white categories. The Ridge Monte Bello placed 5th in the red wines in the 1976 tasting; however when they had a re-match in 2006, the wine took first place.

As I started to research the Ridge Monte Bello, I became fascinated with its history as a wine. Specifically, it originally was 100% cabernet sauvignon, but has evolved to be more of a Bordeaux style blend over time (as you can see below). Further, the Monte Bello is a wine that in some years can fit the 75% cabernet requirement and be labelled as such, but they still choose to label it by its name.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about blending from the winemaker perspective. And Eric Baugher, head winemaker at Ridge Vineyards, was kind enough to chat with me about it! Here is a summary of our conversation:

What was the original motivation to move from Cabernet Sauvignon only, to a Bordeaux-style blend?

The Ridge properties have been around for a long time, but originally they were more of a home winemaking “pet project” focus of three scientists from Stanford Research Institute. The first vineyards were really only a small parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon. When Paul Draper joined in 1969, he pushed for the planting of the first block of Merlot.

Paul was the biggest advocate of shifting the Monte Bello to be more of a complete Bordeaux blend. As a result, they started planting Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc. To this day, the 4 grapes that make up the Monte Bello blend are all estate grown fruit (grown on land owned by Ridge).

Since the wine used to be Cabernet only, has the label and marketing also changed over time?

Yes, the messaging has changed over the years, and the label used to say Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1973, the label started saying Monte Bello vineyard. As it changed to be more of a blend, Cabernet dropped to below 75% and ended up coming off the label in 1988.

The Monte Bello models after the Old World way of labeling wine based on the place that its from. Part of the reason Ridge is successful at this is because many of the collectors that are following and buying the Monte Bello are quite familiar with Old World practices and styles. But until the brand is built up for a specific wine or blend, it’s difficult to get consumers to pick it up off the shelf.

To gain traction in U.S. market, it’s way better to use single varietal. Ridge used to name their other wine “Santa Cruz Mountains” which was a blend, but they had difficulty selling it and making a clear brand. Eventually they just decided to clean up the label of the wine, and called it a Cabernet (since it fit the 75% rule), and now the wine sells much better.

One interesting nuance with Ridge’s wines are that people assume the single varietals are declassified grapes (not good enough to go into the Monte Bello), which is not true at all. In fact, they are just a quite different style. For example, juicier cabernet comes from certain areas, so they make those into an estate cabernet. In contrast, the cabernet chosen for the Monte Bello is from more stressed out vines because it needs to have that bolder, heartier flavor profile.

What is the process of blending? And what drives the makeup of the blend?

The process of making a blend is very involved and requires about 2–3 days straight of work. Every parcel is picked and fermented separately, based on which rows are ripening when. In roughly the 5th month, the winemaking staff begins tasting the barrels and picking out the top lots of the vintage that exhibit the “Monte Bello” characteristics. When it comes to the blending step, the wines are all assembled via blind taste (so there’s no prejudice of how much of each varietal).

Historically for Ridge Vineyards, the blend was based on what plantings are available. Now that they have estate fruit available for each of the major components, blend changes are driven by weather and growing conditions of the year. For example, 2001 has a huge surge of merlot, because good yields and more acreage and great quality.

And some concluding thoughts.

If you read Part 1 of this series, and especially if you’ve talked with me about this topic before, you’d know that I’m quite passionate about the misconceptions regarding blends. I believe that in order to learn about your palate, you need to know what is in the wine you are drinking. I also believe that not all blends are bad — in fact, most of my favorite wines are blends, because I do agree with Eric that blending enables winemakers to add more depth and complexity to a wine.

So I’ll conclude this series with two asks, one for consumers and one for wineries: