Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains (2019) Staff Picks in Central Otago's Upper Clutha

in Central Otago's Upper Clutha basin

The result is texture and depth without weight or oakiness

They make just two wines from the site

which sits just off-dry - a touch softer and rounder than a brut - so it's easy

Grand Siècle is Laurent-Perrier's flagship

Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains (2019) Staff Picks in Central Otago's Upper CluthaMonte Bello is the most famous wine in California, and one of the most celebrated in America. It was Ridge's 1971 Monte Bello that placed in the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris the blind tasting where California Cabernet first beat the best of Bordeaux and it has been compared to the First Growths ever since. It comes from a single high mountain vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, planted on limestone soils that are rare in California and give the