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
93 Points, Wine Enthusiast
Polished and elegantly layered Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah offers red plum and black cherry, with hints of cigar box, forest floor, bay, baking spices, light pepper and vanilla on the nose. Expressive black raspberry, sassafras and smoky pepper flavors that linger with salted dark chocolate, red plum, cherry with notes of pepper on the palate.
94 Points, Wine Enthusiast
This big juicy wine opens up with aromas of dark berry, black plum, dried violet and maple that leap from a glass, layered with dried herbs, tar, and smoke that follow. Blackberry and blueberry compote rule the palate, while leather, grilled herbs, dark chocolate and scorched earth lead to a long, satisfying finish. Delicious!
93 Points, Wine Enthusiast
Dark fruit aromas of black raspberry, blackberry and black cherry steer the aromatics backed by baking spices, anise and lavender. A touch of Syrah to add tannin and depth. On the palate, black cherry and blackberry preserve shine through rounded out by herbs de Provence, dark chocolate and vanilla. A gorgeous expressive wine!
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