As I mentioned in my reviews of the Ridge Spring 2021 national releases, Ridge’s wines had in recent years been moving in the direction of more power and oak. But in March 2021, Ridge announced that Ed Baugher, Monte Bello Winemaker and COO, was leaving Ridge and that John Olney, longtime Winemaker and COO at the Lytton Springs Winery, was being promoted to Head Winemaker and COO of the whole Ridge operation. As such, the 2020 wines, at least those from the Monte Bello Winery, can be regarded as transitional, begun under Baugher, but finished under Olney.
In comparing these wines to the previous few vintages, I do overall find more finesse and better balance here than I had in recent vintages. But it will take a few more vintages to sort out what is due to vintage variation (remember, 2019 was a very challenging vintage) and what is due to a change in approach under Olney. That said, Olney’s background includes internships with Gérard Chave in the Rhône Valley, Lucien Peyraud at Domaine Tempier, and Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, so one would not be surprised to see a shift in balance in the wines.
At any rate, this is a marvelous set of wines and I encourage you to seek them out. (Continue reading here.)