Ridge Vineyards' Geyserville bottling is a true icon of the California wine business. Coming from the oldest block of vines that Ridge owns and farms, planted in 1882! Not only are the vines ancient, but Geyserville it is also one of the longest running labels at Ridge being made every year since 1966. The core of the wine is based around these 140+ yr old Zinfandel and Carignan, with smaller amounts of inter-planted Petite Sirah and Mataro (Mourvedre). An exhaustive debate continues about whether or not old vines make better wines... however, there appears to be plenty of evidence (right here in this bottle for one) that these centurion vines do seem to handle extreme weather events better than younger vines. In 2022 northern California experienced a prolonged "heat dome" event where temperatures soared into the 110-120F range and stayed there for several days. Perhaps it's the old head-trained pruning method that shades the fruit, perhaps it's the huge, deep root systems, or perhaps just some kind of unexplained wisdom the vines poses, but vineyards like Geyserville behaved like they had "been there, done that" and took the excruciating heat in their stride. The other beautiful thing about these ancient, field blend plantings is that grapes like late-ripening Carigan provide a core of acid during hot years when Zinfandel starts to get uber-ripe. Petite Sirah helps with deep color and some powerful tannins. All these things juts make perfect sense when you experience a wine like this from a world-class vineyard, farmed by a team with diligent practice and a deep respect for the vines and their balance. There’s plenty of structure for this wine to go the distance, typical of the house style (at least a decade). The 2022 Geyserville from Ridge shouldn't be missed.