Ridge Vineyards Zinfandel Benito Dusi Ranch Paso Robles 2022

Price drops to $34.95 per bottle when you purchase 6 or more bottles!

Ridge is one of those wineries we could gush about for all time...because they consistently deliver some of the BEST Cali-wines, bar none, including this richly fruited and spicy 2022 Paso Robles zinfandel! 96 points and under $35!

We can go on for hours about Ridge, but simply put, it’s one of the most important wineries in California (maybe the world!), since its inception in 1962. This is one producer who’s fully dedicated to distinctive, ageable, structured, single-vineyard zins and cabs from some of the most prodigious old-vine vineyards across California. Theologian William Short bought the abandoned winery in 1940 after a successful doctor had planted vineyards and created a production facility there in the 1880s. A group of Stanford Research Institute engineers partnered together to run the winery and re-bonded the property in 1962 when the first Monte Bello cabernet became known as one of California’s earliest fine wines. Ever since, the estate’s prestige and renown have only continued to grow, with their pronounced focus on minimal intervention winemaking, intentional grape sourcing, and organic and sustainable practices.

This bodacious zinfandel comes from vines planted in the 1920s on the Benito Dusi Ranch, the only Central Coast zinfandel vineyard that Ridge sources from. The dry and warm growing season of 2022 yielded a healthy crop with plump fruit picked early, in late August prior to a record heat wave. After hand-harvesting, destemming, and crushing, it ferments on the native yeasts followed by full malo and oak barrel aging for 15 months to both integrate the richness of fruit and suspend the underlying acidity, allowing for a delightfully drinkable zin right now, as well as the option to lay down your bottle for the next 5-10 years for further depth and integration.

To be frank, this is everything you want a California zinfandel to be: big, bright, darkly juicy, spice-laden, minerally, and lengthy on the finish, with polished tannins and stunning maturity for a bottle so young. All the red fruits you can imagine – brilliant strawberries and Bing cherry jam and raspberries and soft plums and even yellow juicy peaches – come together with pencil wood, peppercorn, star anise, and toasty oak for something not too fruity, not too spicy...but the perfect Goldilocks balance of both. JUST right. The touch of 5% petite sirah adds the ideal amount of rich complexity and body to finish this off with a chef’s kiss. Under $35 for this level of pedigree, history, and attentive winemaking detail – plus 96 points with surely more praise to come – we can’t get enough of this! If you were looking for the right red to hold up to your BBQ-ed meats and summertime cookouts, this is your surefire winner!

PAIRING IDEAS: The winery website suggests grilled hanger steak quesadillas with blue cheese and caramelized onions...and we’ve gotta give it up to them – that sounds pretty damn incredible.