Ridge Monte Bello 2015
Santa Cruz
USA, USA
Regular price£1,012.32
/
Arriving: October 2026
Shipping duty paid to Mainland UK is charged at a flat rate of £9.99 per consignment and POA for Northern Ireland or Islands.
Shipping under bond is dependant on location, but starts at £15 per consignment.
| Style: Red | Packaging: OWC |
| ABV: 13.5% | Closure: Cork |
| Organic: Yes | Drink from: 2025 |
| Biodynamic: No | Drink to: 2050 |
| Grapes: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc | |
Critic scores
95 RP, 98 AG, 96 VM, 100 JS, 98+ JD, 95 DC, 93 WS, 94 WE
Critic reviews
Having recently passed its 10th birthday, the 2015 Monte Bello has lived up to the promise of its early days. It contains 11% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc and offers earth-forward aromas of dried mahogany, dark chocolate, brick dust and dried herbs. Supple and elegantly generous on the palate, its structure has started to soften, but fine-grained tannins are still apparent on the saturated, chewy finish. Squarely in the first phase of a proper drinking window, it is ready to be checked in on but clearly has a long life ahead.
Matthew Luczy, April 2024
The 2015 Monte Bello is just as phenomenal in this tasting as it has always been. Explosive and powerful in the glass, with fabulous textural richness, the 2015 has a lot to say. Super-ripe red and purplish berry fruit, rose petal and spice add myriad shades of complexity as this towering Monte Bello shows off its personality and pedigree. Rain during bloom reduced the crop significantly. Moderate temperatures with no heat spikes led to a long, relatively cool growing season.
Antonio Galloni, June 2018
The 2015 Monte Bello is still a well-protected fortress of a wine. A more red-fruited and tobacco-laden Monte Bello, it’s mouthwateringly juicy and stubbornly tightly wound, giving rise to the question of whether it will ever let its guard down. Even so, the stuffing is undeniably there, so you might as well just keep waiting. Of course, the risk is that this wine may outlast all of us before it ever truly gives up the goods. Check on it again in five years
Billy Norris, September 2024 | Vinous
The breathtaking nose of blackcurrants, forest berries, cedar and wet earth pulls you into this extremely concentrated but very elegant and precise masterpiece. The super-fine tannins are wrapped in perfectly ripe fruit right through the spectacular finish, with its notes of crushed stone and bitter chocolate. A cuvee of 77% cabernet sauvignon, 11% merlot, 7% petit verdot and 5% cabernet franc. Tasted at the Thomas Kammeier Monte Bello vertical.
James Suckling, December 2022
Matthew Luczy, April 2024
The 2015 Monte Bello is just as phenomenal in this tasting as it has always been. Explosive and powerful in the glass, with fabulous textural richness, the 2015 has a lot to say. Super-ripe red and purplish berry fruit, rose petal and spice add myriad shades of complexity as this towering Monte Bello shows off its personality and pedigree. Rain during bloom reduced the crop significantly. Moderate temperatures with no heat spikes led to a long, relatively cool growing season.
Antonio Galloni, June 2018
The 2015 Monte Bello is still a well-protected fortress of a wine. A more red-fruited and tobacco-laden Monte Bello, it’s mouthwateringly juicy and stubbornly tightly wound, giving rise to the question of whether it will ever let its guard down. Even so, the stuffing is undeniably there, so you might as well just keep waiting. Of course, the risk is that this wine may outlast all of us before it ever truly gives up the goods. Check on it again in five years
Billy Norris, September 2024 | Vinous
The breathtaking nose of blackcurrants, forest berries, cedar and wet earth pulls you into this extremely concentrated but very elegant and precise masterpiece. The super-fine tannins are wrapped in perfectly ripe fruit right through the spectacular finish, with its notes of crushed stone and bitter chocolate. A cuvee of 77% cabernet sauvignon, 11% merlot, 7% petit verdot and 5% cabernet franc. Tasted at the Thomas Kammeier Monte Bello vertical.
James Suckling, December 2022