Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 35

DAVID GATES, SENIOR
VP OF VINEYARD
OPERATIONS AT RIDGE,
JOINS IN THE HARVEST
AT mONTE bELLO.
his property's modest well to irrigate new plantings as the
roots establish themselves in the rocky soil.
" I have this three-acre cabernet vineyard I took out after
the 2019 harvest, and I was all set to replant it, " he recalls.
" I ordered the rootstock and everything, and then we had
a drought year. And this year I was going to do the same
thing, and I had no water. "
The block remains barren.
I
visit Ridge on what tuRns out to be the last day
of harvest at Monte Bello. On the outdoor crushpad,
John Olney-who took over the Monte Bello program
from longtime Monte Bello winemaker Eric Baugher earlier
this year-is carefully babysitting a new press that's
squeezing some chardonnay. Next to the press, a few white
bins of just-picked cabernet represent the final Monte
Bello fruit harvested this year. It's October 5, an unusually
early harvest at a property where, in the coolest years,
the picking has stretched well into November.
An extraordinarily early harvest isn't the only evidence
of the impact of recent heat and drought. Longtime VP
of Vineyard Operations David Gates tells me that they
planned to get about one ton per acre from the new planting
just down the hill that came into production this year.
Instead, the water-stressed vines managed to eke out two
tons from the entire nine-acre parcel.
at thomas FogaRty wineRy, i meet up with nathan Kandler,
who helped the Fogarty family launch their Lexington
project in 2011. It's based on a cabernet-dominant
vineyard they planted in 2000, on the site of a dilapidated
Christmas tree farm on Green Forest Road. While Kandler
wasn't there for the initial planting, he knows there
was some early debate about whether the site was too cool
for cabernet, as the family consulted with legendary Santa
Cruz Mountains winegrower David Bruce.
" There's no problem getting it ripe now, " Kandler says.
" Sunburn's more of an issue. " The last vintage he'd call
" cool, " he says, would be 2011. Contra Patterson's experience
in the 1980s and '90s, Kandler has actually backed off
on canopy thinning to protect the fruit.
" It's the only cabernet vineyard I know of where you
D E c E mb ER 2021
WINE & SPIR IT S
35

Wine & Spirits - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2021

Contents
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 1
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 2
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 3
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 4
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 5
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 7
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 8
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 9
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 10
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 11
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 12
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 13
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 14
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 15
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 16
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 17
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 18
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 19
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 20
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 21
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 22
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 23
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 24
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 25
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 26
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 27
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 28
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 29
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 30
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 31
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 32
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 33
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 34
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 35
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 36
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 37
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 38
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 39
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 40
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 41
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 42
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 43
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 44
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 45
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 46
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 47
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 48
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 49
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 50
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 51
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 52
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 53
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 54
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 55
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 56
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 57
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 58
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 59
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 60
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 61
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 62
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 63
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 64
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 65
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 66
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 67
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 68
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 69
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 70
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 71
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 72
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 73
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 74
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 75
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 76
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 77
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 78
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 79
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 80
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 81
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 82
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 83
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 84
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 85
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 86
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Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 89
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 90
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 91
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 92
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 93
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 94
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 95
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - 96
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - December 2021 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/winespirits/2013fall
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