The 2012 Hidden Ridge is a sleek, sophisticated wine that over-delivers for the price. Opaque in the glass, it offers a heady bouquet of black berries, cassis, and anise. The palate is rich and densely packed, displaying opulent dark fruit, spice box and graphite. This is a treat to drink now, but definitely has the legs to go for 15-20 years.

Hidden Ridge Winery

When Oklahoma natives and entrepreneurs Casidy Ward and Lynn Hofacket purchased the Hidden Ridge Vineyard property in 1991, they envisioned the former site of a private hunting club as the perfect location for a home in the country, truly away from it all. What they didn’t realize, however, was just how difficult it would be to develop such a rural property for residential use. Ultimately, it proved a better home for grapes than for people, and they found that their Cabernet Sauvignon thrived on the otherwise inhospitable mountain slopes at elevations ranging from 900 to 1700 feet. After six years of developing and planting the vineyard themselves, Hofacket and Ward began selling fruit in 2000, though due to the vineyard’s remote location in Sonoma County, and just outside coveted AVA status, winemakers in the Napa Valley could only take limited amounts of fruit. The couple decided to build the vineyard’s reputation by bottling some of the wine for themselves, and Hidden Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon was born, beginning with a small, “experimental” batch in 2001. Production is now up to 5000 cases, with Ward and Hofacket keeping most of the fruit for the Hidden Ridge Vineyard label.