2007 North America

A retaste of the flagship wine, the 2007 Monte Bello (a blend from this famous estate of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc) reveals a dense ruby/purple wine with a floral, blueberry, and earthy cassis nose and elegant mid-weight flavors with impressive purity and classicism. There is good acidity, firm tannin, and modest alcohol (13.1%). This is not the most concentrated or powerful Monte Bello, but one built on finesse and elegance. According to the back label, only 41% of the production made it into this wine from the 103-acre estate vineyard. Give this wine another good 5-7 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 20-25 years.
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate # 193 - Feb 2011

Ridge Lytton Springs is a blend of 71% Zinfandel, 22% Petite Sirah, 7% Carignane. The nose is opulent, reminiscent of super-ripe grapes, with aromas of dried fruit, blackberry pie-and-cream. Real density of fruit on the palate, but not at all overdone, with the Carignane imparting a pleasing wilder, hedgerow element to the silky softness of the Zinfandel. Excellent finish with balancing, correct acidity.

A wine of great intensity with notes of black fruits, well balanced, with a long finish of mature tannins and elegant oak. The bouquet and the palate will continue to develop over the next 5-10 years.
www.veritewines.com

72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. The flagship wine from the Andrew Will winery, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend in which the grapes are exclusively sourced from the great Champoux vineyard.

The wine is aged in French oak barrels, 35% new, for 21 months before bottling. Stylistically it leans very much towards Pauillac in Bordeaux, with great elegance on the bouquet but considerable weight and power on the palate and a long, long finish. This is essentially a 15-20 year wine; although it can be enjoyed now as the tannins are quite ripe and not too austere, the wine has huge capacity for development.

The 2007 Syrah En Cerise Vineyard (100%) is a glass-coating opaque purple color. On the nose espresso, smoked meat, olives, and garrigue-like aromas offer much to contemplate. Intense, balanced, and subtly elegant, it boasts a finish that just won’t quit. It delivers impressive immediate gratification, but those who can wait for 5-7 years will be well rewarded. 
Jay S Miller - Wine Advocate - eRobertParker.com - Aug 2010

The 2007 Syrah En Chamberlin Vineyard is even more complex aromatically with its notes of crushed stone, smoked meat, espresso, truffle, blueberry, and black raspberry. Full-bodied, ripe, intensely flavored yet elegant, it has a 60-second finish that is pure silk.

A cult of personality seems to have developed in Washington over the past couple of years.  Christophe Baron continues to find new and interesting things to do. His latest vineyard project is well underway on hillsides not far from his present location. His estate, just on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla AVA, consists of five small but distinct vineyards (41 acres in total – with more on the way).

Syrah and the Bordeaux varietals are the principal focus but some of the finest parcels of Tempranillo and Grenache grown in the USA are on this estate. Unfortunately, there will be no more varietally bottled Viognier which will now be used only as a blending grape. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically and much of the estate is planted on rootstock to prepare for the day when phylloxera works its way through Walla Walla. The wines are all fermented with indigenous yeasts and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Jay Miller, Wine Advocate #190, Aug 2010

This fine blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot shows ripe red and black fruit, integrated barrel spice and elegant structure. Though enjoyable now, its tannins will resolve further as flavours mature over the next eight to ten years.

Like a mini-version of the fabled Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, this is a blend of 4 major southern Rhone varietals, namely Mourvedre (44%), Grenache (29%) Syrah (21%) and Counoise (6%). The wines were fermented in stainless steel before being aged in 1200-gallon large oak casks, known as foudres, for 18 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The nose displays an array of red and black fruits, especially bramble fruits and plums, with notes of black cherry and fig. On the palate the Grenache provides a round, warm generosity, the Syrah supplies fine tannins and spicy blackberry character, while most of the depth and the core comes from the blackstrap Mourvedre. The finish is huge and while you can drink this now it will improve for a few more years yet and will last comfortably until 2020.