With 14.1 % alcohol that cost near $30 then, the 2009 Ridge Sonoma County Three Valleys blend scored 16+ Dionysian points.

Full complex black fruits and oak filled your nose. The wine needed decanting and then was ruby with an orange edge. Black pepper rounded out its taste for this full bodied wine. It’s 70% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 15% Carignane, 3% Grenache, and 2% Mataro. The wine excites the front, middle and the back of the tongue as a great wine should.

Sediment stuck to the bottle’s sides even after decanting. It was served with an Alfredo pasta dish.

This bottle was carried back from the winery after an extensive tasting and it’s just coming into it s top peak of perfection, but would have held another five years. The Three Valleys is always an interesting mix of grapes. In Vino Veritas.