Ridge is one of my favorite wine producers.  They are extremely well-known and have wide distribution so it should be easy to find a bottle of something wherever you live in U.S. (well not Utah obviously).  Single vineyard Zins are their specialty but they are pricey enough that you don’t drink them every day.  The York Creek is around $30, for example.  I had never had it before this last weekend.  It lived up to expectations.  It’s definitely an American wine.  It’s jammy.  I tasted lots of blackberries and cherry.  It’s very thick, chewy and velvety.  It’s aged in oak but I could not taste obvious vanilla.  The oak had mellowed the tannins so it was very smooth.  You got the feeling that by 2012 it will have more complexity.  Now, once you open a bottle, you can’t stop drinking as it’s delicious.  The unfortunate thing is that it has roughly 15% alcohol so you might regret the easy drinking.  I’m going to buy more bottlles, invite some frieds over and commit to drinking less that way.