94 pts – Wine Advocate
Along with the Dunn Howell Mountain and Chateau Montelena 1985s, Ridge’s Monte Bello is among the most backward wines of the vintage, but it is so promising. I do not intend to touch another bottle before 2005 – it is still that youthful and closed. It of
95 pts – Wine Spectator
Wine Spectator (June 2019): 95 Points. “The 1985 Monte Bello shows an old-school edge, leading off with dark olive and bay notes. It’s a smoky-eyed beauty as it moves through, showing dried flower, mulled red currant and black cherry fruit and a long, suave finish carried by mouthwatering sanguine and chalk notes. It’s at its peak for me.” – James Molesworth
95 pts – Vinous
Medium-deep, amber-edged red. Superripe aromas of blackcurrant, plum, cedar, game and truffle; at once less complex and less evolved than the ’84. Large-scaled, dense and fat; bigger and broader than the ’84, with a compelling gamey sweetness. Rather massive in the context of Monte Bello, and developing slowly. Finishes very long, with big but fine tannins that spread out to suffuse the palate. ST
