Ridge Celebrates 60th Anniversary with Auction, Dinners and Tributes

April 29, 2022 – The history of Ridge is one of those classic Silicon Valley tales: four engineers (Dave Bennion, Hew Crane, Charlie Rosen, and Howard Ziedler) from SRI take over an old vineyard property on Monte Bello Road planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. Some great wine is made. They bond the place in 1962 and Bennion quits his day job to make wine. Paul Draper—a philosophy major from Stanford joins the team as winemaker in 1969—fresh off establishing a winery on the coast of Chile. His is a practical approach to winemaking is very hands off, the complete opposite of the approach espoused by UC Davis. It would later be termed by Ridge as “pre-industrial” winemaking. 

In 1976, there’s a wine tasting organized by Steve Spurrier called The Judgment of Paris, where two wines from the US smoke the daylights out of the French entries, winning both best red and best white. Among the entries is Ridge Monte Bello, which comes in 5^th. California is suddenly and visibly on the world stage. 

Suddenly the name Ridge is on high-end wine lists everywhere. And yet, the wine is also at local grocery stores: an enviable position. By 1991, they add Lytton Springs in Sonoma to the Ridge estate holdings and Zinfandel becomes a larger percentage of production. Chardonnay, made since 1962, also increases. An exchange agreement with the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District, allows Ridge to acquire 42 acres of land originally planted to grapes pre-Prohibition—where they added Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and some Petit Verdot. In 2016, Ridge purchases Whitton Ranch, a 36-acre parcel that makes up the core of their Geyserville wine.

It’s been quite a ride. 

Although he retired in 2016 at age 80 after 47 years of winemaking, Paul Draper is still involved in tastings and is one of the luckiest guys in the business. He’s been able to ride the wave the entire time, watching the market fall in love with a product that became a household name around the world. For a wine like Monte Bello to have achieved such stature is a remarkable feat. Consistency has been the hallmark: not in terms of flavor profile, as it’s not a formulaic wine like some blends that have to taste the same year after year in order to fill a supermarket niche. 

Draper hired Eric Baugher in 1994 as a chemist, and the two steadily worked to make well-structured long-lived wines that would out live the both of them. Baugher was Monte Bello Winemaker and COO before leaving the company in 2021 to pursue a high end Napa Cabernet project.  Some of the last wines Baugher made, from vintages 2017 and 2018, are still available. Baugher achieved two 100-point scores for Monte Bello during his tenure: 2013 and 2017. Two others Ridge wines achieved this honor previously in 1974 and 1992. 

When Draper retired, Mark Vernon was promoted to CEO and David Amadia became President. Amadia has been with the company since 2005, and has been in the wine industry since 1990. He told me that in celebration of their 60 years in business, they reached out to their customer base and asked what Ridge means to them. 

“We started with our customers,” says Amadia. “We sent out a questionnaire asking them to share their stories and memories and we got an avalanche of responses! All their memories, including anniversaries, graduations, the birth of their children. Ridge was an integral part of their lives. We’re creating a page on our website to share them.” 

They’re also planning an auction this fall with Christie’s in London. “The British call a 60^th anniversary a Diamond Jubilee,” Amadia tells us. “We are putting together 100 different lots for auction, including Lytton Springs, Geyserville and Monte Bello selections. There will be a series of dinners and a book published on all the lots.”

Amadia and David Gates, Head of Viticulture, will be in attendance.

They are also planning a retrospective tasting of Monte Bello going back into the ‘80s. Looking back at 6 decades of wines is not something most wineries in California can do. Amadia says that Ridge is in a really enviable position, but they never, ever rest on their laurels. The competition in the wine industry is too great. Having won so much, by hard work, good farming, careful winemaking and consistency of product, they also have so very much to lose. 

To stay competitive, they’ve recently added a new member to their winemaking team. Trester Goetting, an industry veteran who has worked with Zinfandel and Mountain Cabernet, was recently hired as the new Head Winemaker for Monte Bello. His resume includes experience at Biale, Crupp Brothers and Ladera—all in Napa.  He started with Saint Clement, an iconic property on Highway 29. Amadia describes him as a great guy and a bright spirit. 

And he won’t be alone. Paul Draper, who still lives on the Montebello estate, is still very much involved in the winery, and will doubtless be there as a sounding board. Says Amadia, “He comes to all the Executive and Board meetings, and participates in all the tastings. He’ll be involved until his last day. We are so fortunate and grateful to have him. He has set the bar very high, and doesn’t let us get distracted from our core competency. We are so grateful for his wisdom and guidance.”

Amadia says he’s encouraged by the good energy of their new winemaker. “There’s a saying, ‘Know the winemaker, know the wine.’ Take Jeffrey Patterson. He’s a very cerebral person. Paul is respectful and diplomatic. It’s reflected in the wine.”

As Paul Draper says in his blog, ““In looking back at our last 60 years, I’ve focused entirely on production, that is, the winery and vineyards. From the beginning, our success has been built on our attempt to make some of the finest wines being produced today. However, any successful company depends on much more than just production. In the last twenty years, we have assembled an incredible team that has brought the other essential aspects of our operation to a level that has placed Ridge among the most respected wine producers in the world.

We look forward to the next 60 years and attempting ever finer quality with each new vintage.”

Here’s to another 60 years!