This wine is sourced from the same vineyards as Ridge's Monte Bello wine, but tends to be much more approachable in its youth. It's sort of analogous to the second wine of a Bordeaux chateau. Prior to the 2008 vintage, these wines were bottled as Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2008 is a delicious wine. It barely qualifies as a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon, with 75% coming from that grape, 20% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, and 2% Cabernet Franc (where's some Malbec?). I smell and taste intense chocolate and mocha java, as well as rich red and black fruits. Lots of cassis, for example. A long finish. Drinkable now but with sufficient structure to support additional aging. Sadly, this was my only bottle, but I'm going on the auction sites to find more. Grade: A- (arguably I ought to bump this up to A given how relatively inexpensive it was at $40/bottle).
This is not me, but it's a good analysis:
