HOLD MY HALF FULL GLASS!

Busy day here at Wine Spies HQ, while Agent Noir went digging deep, trying to coax the folks at Young Ridge, persuading them that there’s no need to hold their 2017 back, which was their plan.

SO HERE IT IS! The very last vintage of Young Ridge made before they called it a day. We kinda lied thinking the 2016 was the last one today, but things change like the weather around here…

Thought we should not call it a day, so seize it Ops!

An OG, Wine Spies 1.0 winery, Young Ridge returns with a vengeance. We’ve NEVER been able to land one of their mature library releases - until today. These are perfectly cellared at the winery, made by a winemaker with a resume at Robert Mondavi, Beaulieu Vineyard, and Sterling… not just alive, but LIVELY, spritely, full of character. This one now with OVER $100 OFF!!

Young Ridge has been at it since 1995 when founders LeRoy and Patty Young made their first Cabernet. Soon after, they bought a 99-acre parcel in Pope Valley and set to work building a full production facility.

They brought winemaker Julianna Beckmann Gosling on board to make the wines. She started her winemaking career at Robert Mondavi Winery, and after graduating from UC Davis, she honed her art at BV and Sterling. At Young Ridge, Julianna oversaw all aspects of viticulture and winemaking, shepherding the vines from vineyard to bottle.

Very similar to the 2016, just bigger and more tannic, needing maybe another year, or tons of decanting while the weekday steaks sizzle. Let’s wrap it up with an accurate assessment by James Suckling “I expected to taste many overripe and over-made wines with ‘2017’ on their labels; yet so many were balanced, fresh and refined, especially the Napa wines that comprised the majority of my tasting.”

Goodbye crazy Young Ridge deals, you will surely be missed once this is gone.