Tasting Note                         

89       1995 Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns Cabernet 5/30/05 ($35)

Color: Deep garnet with no clearing, but enough brown to look ready. (3.0) Bouquet: Herbal beef broth with perfumy cassis and high acidity for this wine. (3.0) Body: High acidity and just enough tannin supporting middleweight fruit. Tasty, but could use a little more oomph. (2.5) Flavor: Smooth cassis with black pepper and black licorice. (3.0) Finish: Parallels bouquet, but more intense and long. Still, the acidity gives it a slight edge, forcing a half point deduction. (3.0)
Overall: Almost makes excellent, but just doesn’t have the stuffing, richness or class to be anything more than very good. Comes off as an awkward vintage that is close to ready and on the light side for this wine.Whether or not it improves in the next year or so is a roll of the dice. The fact that the bottom of the bottle is richer, sweeter and more interesting than the rest gives a glimmer of hope though. (14.5)
85% Cab, 11% Petit Verdot, 4% Merlot 12.7% alc