Yup, there it is.
(March 21, 2022) It's fine. Overpriced, this one is, but it's fine. Maybe this wine transcends 'overpriced', though - but I'll get to that in several paragraphs.
I've been to this place a couple of times - not the blogosphere, been there a lot, but Ridge Wineries. Years ago, when TWS lived in the Bay Area and was single and gainfully employed in tech - got some stories about that!
Maybe for another time, though, because I have a couple of things to talk about now, and they're both related to this bottle of wine right here.
First off - blurbs. Let's look at the back of the label:
Anyway. Here's the transcript:
2019 Three Valleys, bottled Dec 2019
Rain in late March coupled with warm spring weather created ideal growing conditions. The cines responded with a full crop and mild summer weather allowed for slow, even ripening. Aging in American oak complements the plentiful fruit in the wine while petite sirah provides added richness and structure. Enjoyable upon release, this zinfandel based wine will be at its best over the next five years.
My first take on this, in the store, was FUCK yeah. It's not telling me how to enjoy this, or trying to give me an adjective salad of words to impress people with about this wine - this is real ass farmer shit. Yeah!
But then I opened it and tasted it and was like - yup. That's a red wine in this bottle right here. An hour later for breathing and it was still a red wine. A little too sweet but not irritatingly so, and it was more that it didn't piss me off, than it was good. You know? It's a $30 bottle because Ridge got Marketing game, yo!
And I've been to Ridge, and had a good time there. I remembered it enough to feel a twinge of dopamine pleasure when I saw the bottle at New Seasons - Oh! I've been to there! It was fancy! I liked it! I think I will like this wine!
Yes, brain. You have gone to there. Yes!
So listen. Real talk. I'm right now at the mostest tiredest time in the term - the end of the week before finals - and things are all boring and sad because I'm tired. So I worry, you know? All these red wines are just - a little too sweet, and whatevs. I mean, unless they're terrible, but I haven't had a GOOD fucking red wine in years. Maybe it's me? Maybe I am bad at tasting and might as well drink fucking - I dunno - wine from a box? "Chillable Red" or some shit?
But then I stirred in a drop - one drop! - of tabasco sauce that got on the butter into my mashed potatoes at dinner last night, and it threw off the whole thing. I don't like tabasco, see, and that flavor is just... (shudders). So I don't think I'm bad at tasting, or anything. I think most red wines in the grocery store are for people who buy wine at the grocery store - choosing by the label, distracted because they've left work and are heading home, you know how it goes and if you don't, well, I just told you.
So, Ridge. It's fine. Maybe some of their specialty blends are magical and a delight to the tongue? For this $30 I could have bought 3 bottles of Pepperwood Cab and been... well, I was going to write 'three times as happy' but I'm not sure that's true. Three times as drunk is the true one here, because I'd have had about the same kind of flavors experience.
Who is this wine for? Well, maybe it's for you! Do you think that paying more for wine means that wine will taste better? Then yes, this wine is EXACTLY what you want. It's fine; no peculiar after-taste, and it does its job, and it is absolutely NOT BAD. And maybe that's what we can aspire too, at the end of the day?
But if not-bad is what we look for, get two 8-packs of Guiness cans, or a half-gallon of Monopoloya vodka, and have a better experience for your taste buds, and a considerably larger amount of alcohol for the same price.
If you know people who are impressed with the Ridge label, then I guarantee you that they will look down on you for this particular one. This is Ridge-for-the-plebs, the kind they mass produce for grocery store wine purchasers. Either ask your wine people to bring the wine, or put out Pepperwood and see what they say.
People who complain about Pepperwood know exactly the wrong amount of wine, is what I say about that. People who know nothing say 'Oh - this is kind of nice, for wine.' The couple of people I know that really do know wine think Pepperwood is the best one can do for under $15 a bottle. That's a restating of my friend Leah who never said anything like that, so now I'm putting words into her mouth.
Hi Leah, if you ever read this! Just so you're clear I am worried that I got marked absent yesterday.
That's an inside joke from fucking high school.
This wine is fine, if you are in general pissed off or annoyed by this blog, or feel the need to write me an email that starts with something like "Actually, ..." Then - yup! Buy this for your friends and talk about how Napa gets all the love but actually Sonoma has some very delicious varietals - the drier climate means certain types of richer flavors can really come through.
Or something. I'm just the wine snob here - build off of the patter to develop your own.
Comments
Post a Comment