Ridge Vineyards. Ridge Vineyards, Santa Cruz Mountains, California. Great wines from talented winemaker Paul Draper

Pre-history
Monte Bello Ridge is a major outcropping of California's ancient Franciscan geologic formation. Its limestone - plus associated layers of chert and volcanic rock - was probably formed by decaying shell organisms in a shallow tropical ocean near the equator. Tectonic plate movements in the earth's crust brought the formation to its current Santa Cruz Mountains location. This took place over seventy million years ago.

Fast-forward to the relative present.

Late Nineteenth & Early Twentieth Centuries
Long before Ridge entered its founders' collective unconscious, others had thought to grow grapes on this ancient, exotic terrain. Largely, these growers were Italian. But they also came from Spain, from Portugal, from Alsace. Osea Perrone, a northern Italian immigrant, built his Monte Bello Winery in 1885, when Monte Bello Road was a mere buggy track. He cut terraces into the surrounding steep acreage, planted grapes, waited, began making wine. Gravity and erosion have taken their toll, but vestiges of his terracing remain.

Pre- and Post-Prohibition
Perrone died in 1912, willing the property to a nephew (also an Osea) who ran the winery until 1919, when the Volstead Act became law. Somehow, he maintained the vineyards during Prohibition; with Repeal, he was able to re-open the winery and resume production. Perrone continued wine-making until 1935, and died in 1936. The vines served a number of owners in the intervening years, but were no longer productive when Ridge entered the picture.Great Cabernets are distinguished by their aromas. Over time good Cabernets can become very good, but if the original wine lacked intensity, no amount of bottle ageing can ever make up the deficit. The particular difficulty facing any grower of Cabernet is that it needs warmth to ripen, but not so much that you start to lose the fruit's precious aromatic fraction. Montebello's combination of soil and altitude are about perfect, and over the years the two elements have consistently worked together to bring about a subtle, but thrilling, amplification of nature.

The Forties and Fifties - William Short
Meanwhile, about a mile down the road, a forty-acre vineyard was being nurtured by one William Short, a San Franciscan who loved farming almost as much as he loved fine wine. Assisted by a pack of twelve deer-chasing daschunds, he grew--presciently, it seems, for the forties-- chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. There was also an experimental planting of the daring Davis hybrid, ruby cabernet, a carignane/sauvignon cross.

The Fifties and Sixties - Founding of Ridge
Known initially as BCRZ Ridge Vineyards, Ridge was founded by four electrical engineers from Stanford Research Institute, and their wives. "B" stood for Dave and Fran Bennion, "C" for Hew and Sue Crane, "R" for Charlie and Blanche Rosen. The "Z", Howard Zeidler, who left the partnership after a fairly brief involvement.

In an early example of the fortuity which periodically informs Ridge's development, both Bennions and Rosens - on separate occasions and unbeknownst to each other - had met and spoken at length with William Short. By December 1958, he had agreed to sell his land to the fledgling group; the property changed hands by February 1959.

In those years, no one was at the vineyard full time. But an amazing amount got done on weekends - trees were planted, fences built; vines grafted, cultivated, pruned; weeds pulled or whacked; buildings restored, wired; pumps electrified; equipment (mostly used) purchased. Getting to the winery was still not easy; though far from the buggy track of Perrone's era, Monte Bello was a one lane dirt road from the schoolhouse on. Highway 280 did not exist, there was no Foothill Expressway. At harvest, friends of the families made the trip to help bring in the crop, sometimes in return for grapes (a few were home winemakers), but more often for nothing tangible. Most of the '59 crop, about six tons, went to Mario Gemello's winery at $120/ton for chardonnay, $90/ton for cabernet and ruby cab. David Bruce and Martin Ray were other early customers.

Gradually, the idea of an actual, functioning, possibly profitable winery began to take hold. So did awareness of needing more grapes and more money--not to mention getting legal. Just in time for the '62 vintage, Ridge became California Bonded Winery (BW) #4488.

A lot more happened in the '60s. The name "Ridge" was chosen, despite qualms about starkness and the lack of a modifier. The Ridge label (itself quite stark) was designed by Jim Robertson. He used Optima, a new German typeface. The first Jimsomare, Geyserville, and Paso Robles zinfandels were made. Dave Bennion quit SRI to become the first full-time employee. Infusions of capital came in the form of shareholders and two new partners, Carl Djerassi and Alex Zaffaroni. Ridge was incorporated. In 1968, Leo and Evelyn Trentadue, who owned the old Perrone vineyard and (by then semi-derelict) winery, agreed to sell. Ridge was happy to buy. Perhaps the quintessential fortuity of the '60s: Dave and Fran Bennion met Paul Draper at the home of a mutual friend. Paul joined Ridge in 1969.

The Seventies
Though not wine-educated in the Davis sense, Draper knew wine. After graduating from Stanford, then studying at the Monterey Language School, he spent considerable time in Italy and France pursuing (among other things) this emerging passion. Practical experience came from his years in Chile, where he and Stanford friend Fritz Maytag had set up and run a small winery.

At Ridge, production and distribution were increasing with each vintage. A clear priority was restoration of the winery. Paul and various able helpers - amazingly - accomplished this near-miracle in time for the vintage of 1971. A decade of "firsts," the '70s brought the first Ridge wine from Maytag's recently-acquired vineyard, the stunning '71 York Creek Petite Sirah; the first non-estate cabernet, '71 Eisele. Also in '71, Paul Draper assumed the role of winemaker. The first Lytton Springs "zinfandel" was made in '72, in '74 the first York Creek cabernet, in '75 the first York Creek zinfandel. After a nine-year hiatus from Benito Dusi's vineyard, in 1976 Ridge began its unbroken series of Paso Robles zinfandels. And in Paris, the '71 Monte Bello Cabernet placed fifth in a field of twelve--including first-growth Bordeaux--at the now-famous Acadéémie du Vin tastings. In 1978, employees delivered the first ATP selection (1976 Zinfandel York Creek, $5.50/bottle) to a handful of loyal local Ridgeites.

The Eighties and Nineties
In the '70s, improvements to the winery - and to winemaking techniques -had been the major focus. With the advent of the '80s, vineyard practice and technique began to assume greater importance. More attention was paid to the individual blocks and their distinct personalities. Other milestones: In 1984 Dave Bennion withdrew as president, but continued to participate in matters of policy and planning. At Steven Spurrier's ten-years-later re-creation of the '76 Paris Tasting, the '71 Monte Bello outshone the '70 Ch. Montrose, '71 Leoville, '70 Mouton.

Though the '90s are a bit recent to classify as "history," they were important years. In 1991, Ridge made its first Pagani zinfandel. Also in '91, the eastern portion of Lytton Springs was purchased, and in '95, the portion to the west. As ever, Ridge is a work in progress, constantly building on, adjusting, refining what has been learned in the past. Judging from the wines alone, the decade has ushered in an era of unprecedented excellence. May it continue thus.