Letdown: verb; to fall short in satisfying the expectation or hope of.

With much anticipation the FTF finally carved out an afternoon to visit Ridge Winery in Cupertino. Why we have waited this long to visit one of the most famous wineries in this area is beyond explanation. Ridge consistently gets great reviews and their flagship wine, Monte Bello, gets recognition around the world. In fact it was recently chosen to be served at a private dinner for President Obama and a national dignitary. I think this is what finally pushed us to take the challenging drive up to Ridge to visit their renown tasting room. Unfortunately what we experienced was a letdown (see above). I do not know if my taste buds are just not refined enough, or if my tongue got up on the wrong side of the bed, but the big WOW that we were expecting was not there. I am in no way saying the wine was bad. It was good, just not what we were expecting. We only tasted the reds, so my comments are intended only for them. What you will not get at Ridge is big, no big fruit in the zin, no big tannins in the cabs, and I am not saying that is bad. The wines are all soft and complex with multiple different flavors from front to finish but they all tasted somewhat similar. Maybe I had set myself up, but this is not what I was expecting. That said, now that I do know what to expect, I am more than willing to give it another go. Who knows, some things are better on the second tasting. Tune in next time……….