Full, youthful red-ruby color. Knockout nose of cassis, maple syrup, game, truffle and spicy oak; sappy and highly complex. Powerful, primary dark berry flavors exude a sweet gamey quality. Dense but sharply delineated. Great flavor intensity without the slightest suggestion of heaviness. Still a baby but already amazingly harmonious wine. Extremely long finish features very fine, suave tannins. A world-class cabernet, certainly among the top dozen made in California during the last 20 years.

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Very rich and opulent. Velvety, yet still with a real spine and wonderful finish. Thick and sweet. Great, dense and juicy. Quitestunning in a fulsome way. Less different from the California Cabernet norm than some vintages.

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Ridge has released two top-notch Cabernet Sauvignons that are completely different in style. In total contrast to the 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Cruz Mountains, the 1991 Cabernet Sauvignon Monte Bello exhibits the classic austerity found in Bordeaux, with a reserved but highly complex bouquet of licorice, cassis, and lead pencil. It is a rich, almost measured wine in its restraint, but there is considerable intensity, and the wine offers outstanding extraction of flavor, full body, and gobs of tannin. Given the glacial pace at which most Monte Bellos evolve, this wine is not likely to be fully mature for another 10-15 years; it will last for 25-30 years.

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Rich, with currant, mineral, spice, sage, leather and black cherry. Supple in texture, graceful in style and long, persistent and focused on the finish. Tannins are fine-grained. Magnificent Monte Bello that defines the complexity, weight, style, flavor and nuance of this vineyard in its best years.--'81/?91 California Cabernet retrospective. 3,000 cases made.

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Wow, very Bordeaux with some cherry, leather, tobacco, dill. Almost like the 91 togni but a bit less rich. Not sure what would've made this better.