Ridge – low tech, high tech

Low tech, high tech, is how Paul Draper (pictured here) described their approach at Ridge in the Santa Cruz mountains. Low-tech winemaking with straightforward equipment on one side of the wall and a high-tech lab on the other – to confirm and test the decisions they make based on experience and tasting, retasting and retasting. For example, they have done extensive research into tannin extraction, looking at the way the seed tannins bond with the anthocyanins, but the decisions in the winery are based on how the embryonic wines taste.

Draper, courteous, thoughtful and dapper, presented the following wines at...