Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot 1995

The black fruit and berry flavors in this Merlot are so rich and ripe that it could almost fool you into thinking it was a Cabernet, but there is a haunting difference --- a note of licorice or anise that identifies it immediately for me as Bancroft Ranch Merlot. A wine should have a signature, a consistency of style that identifies it while allowing for the variations that are inevitable and fascinating from vintage to vintage. In this 1995 vintage, the texture is almost chewy but supple, a characteristic I love in Merlot. The flavor is big but layered --- those dark berries, the anise backed up by some mint and cedar, and the sweet, toasty oak --- so that you want to taste it again and again to explore everything that's going on in the wine.

1. Mount Veeder Reserve Red 2003
2. Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
3. Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 1995