2022 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs Dry Creek Valley 750 ml

Much of Ridge’s reputation is built upon their highly sought-after Zin blends—Vinous calls Ridge “the stalwart of distinctive, site-driven blends from across California”—and this is doubtless one of the best blends they’ve ever made. 

Grown on their historic Dry Creek Valley estate, the 2022 is exactly what makes Lytton Springs so iconic. The result is gorgeous purity, with the vibrant fruit of century-old vines dominating in youth, and the firm acid making for a brightly balanced Zinfandel blend that can age a decade or more. 

Aging Zinfandel blends—something that’s rarely recommended, unless we’re talking about Ridge: Christie’s auction house called them “equally impressive in terms of structure, length, and age-ability” as the winery’s Bordeaux-style wines, and singled out the Lytton Springs site as “an exceptional piece of ground” that “consistently produce(s) wines that are cellar-worthy yet understated and sophisticated.” 

The Lytton vineyards are located on the benchlands between Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, where foggy mornings burn off into warm and sunny afternoons, before the breezes pick up in the late evening. The older blocks (at Lytton East) are planted with intermixed Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignane, Mataro (Mourvèdre), and Grenache, which  are co-fermented. Lytton West features more single-varietal blocks, which are fermented separately before being added to the final blend. 

Ridge is the largest grower of organically certified grapes in Sonoma County, and in the cellar they rely on what they call “pre-industrial” winemaking techniques. They eschew commercial enzymes and nutrients in the cellar, and allow the wine to undergo natural malolactic fermentation while aging in American oak. They’re also one of the only wineries in the world to voluntarily label their wines with a comprehensive list of ingredients.