Bottle Notes, Zinfandel

2005 Ridge Pagani Ranch Zinfandel – Bottle Notes

2005 Ridge Pagani Ranch Zinfandel

When I first became interested in Zinfandel the buzz was always around the Three R’s of Zinfandel: Ravenswood, Rosenblum and Ridge. 20 years later Ridge is still at the top of its game, turning out single vineyard Zinfandel from some of California’s most precious vineyards.

 Ranch Vineyard is in Sonoma Valley and vines there date back over 100 years. The ’05 Pagani is a blend of 96% Zinfandel and small amounts of Mataro, Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet.  For me, Ridge is all about balance and the ’05 Zinfandel is no exception. The wine is very jammy but in no way over-extracted. Fresh raspberries, strawberries, pepper, raisin, chalk and just a hint of vanilla. Like all Ridge Zinfandels this wine should age easily to 10 years of age.

The Historic Vineyard Society is a great resource for some of California’s other historic vineyards.

The ’05 Pagani Ranch is widely available at approximately $40 per bottle.

My rating: 92 points

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2 thoughts on “2005 Ridge Pagani Ranch Zinfandel – Bottle Notes

  1. Tom:

    Coincidentally, on the night before you posted this I opened a 97 Ridge Pagani Ranch, which turned out to be an interesting experiment in how well these Zins can age. Although my conclusion is that the wine was probably better a few years before I opened it, it certainly had plenty still to offer and proved that it was a fine and age-worthy wine. If I’ve done this correctly, this should link to my tasting note: https://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=Notes&szSearch=Ridge+Zinfandel+Pagani+Ranch

  2. Awesome. Earlier this year the 99 Ridge Lytton Springs out of magnum felt like it had many years ahead of it. The format certainly played a part but these Zins are truly age worthy.

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