Ridge Vineyards

Founded by a group of Stanford academics when they bought an abandoned vineyard site high in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1959, the story of Ridge is inexorably interwoven with Paul Draper, who joined as winemaker in 1969. Under his stewardship, the Monte Bello vineyard produced Cabernet matching Bordeaux’s finest along with superb Chardonnay, whilst the estate also owns or manages several old vine Zinfandel vineyards, most notably Lytton Springs and Geyserville, from where wines of great complexity and ageability are made. Owned by a Japanese company, Otsuka, since 1987, Draper remained as CEO and head winemaker until 2016, after 47 vintages at the helm. He remains chairman of the board with John Olney, who has been at Ridge since 1996, now in charge of the winemaking.