90 Points - Wine Enthusiast
DOUBLE GOLD - TheFiftyBest.com - Best California Merlot - 2020
EXCEPTIONAL - Restaurant Wine - Issues #187, #188, & #189
This harmonious wine displays a lasting and memorable finish. Pair it with grilled flank steak, lamb burgers or veal chops. Highly recommended!
Vintage: The string of near perfect vintages continued for the fifth year in 2016, with an early bud break and flowering followed by sunny days and relatively mild temperatures throughout the growing season. They were able to have almost all their grapes safely in the cellar before the valley's first significant fall rainstorm arrived on October fourteenth.
Vineyard: Their Merlot is grown both in cooler American Canyon and Carneros vineyards and in their warmer Yountville vineyard. They blended Merlot from all three vineyards to create a balanced, robust wine that combines the richness and depth from the warmer climates and perfume and bright fruitiness from the cooler climates. Committed to natural winegrowing and sustainability, farmed from five estate vineyards without artificial fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides and certified organic.
Alcohol: 14.6% by volume
Varietal: 92% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc
Appellation: Napa Valley Estate
Harvest date: Sept. 22 - 27, 2016
Sugar: 24.7 Brix (average)
Fermentation: Indigenous yeast
Skin Contact: 2 weeks in stainless steel
Total acid: 6.2 g/L
pH: 3.55
Aging: 21 months
Type of oak: French oak barrels; 25% new, 75% neutral
Bottling date: August 2018
Release date: November 2019
Gold Medal
Generously packed with black cherry, cola, cassis, and plum that all intermingle together in a creamy, velvety texture with great layering, finishing with delightful notes of oak and spice. Persistent, well-defined structure, wonderfully balanced.
96 Point Vintage
Entices with aromas of Bing cherry, raspberry, and cedar spice. Indicative of the cool vintage, the wine carries a freshness throughout. The palate offers a harmonious balance between bright red fruit, spice, and nicely woven tannins.
94 Points
Deep garnet-purple colored, it leaps from the glass with vibrant notes of fresh black currants, kirsch, and mulberries... Full-bodied, the palate delivers a firm line of grainy tannins with bold freshness to frame the muscular black fruit, finishing long and cedary.
Gold Medal
Light pink in color with aromas of watermelon, cranberry, orange rind, and fresh spring flowers that leap from the glass. The palate offers more peach, strawberry, and melon, with an intriguing note of rose and hibiscus. It's crisp with just the perfect hint of red fruit, and delicate whisper of strawberry that gives goosebumps.
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