Pepper Bridge Winery Merlot 2008
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Blend: 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Malbec
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The new releases begin with the 2008 Merlot which contains 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec in the blend. The fruit was sourced nearly equally from Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills and was aged for 20 months in 47% new oak. Asian spices, incense, violets, cassis, and black cherry lead to a wine with a solid core of savory fruit, plenty of structure, and excellent balance. It will evolve for 2-3 years and drink well through 2023.
91+ Points -
Wine & Spirits
Like a Pepper Bridge cabernet, this merlot is built on a firm foundation of tannin. Though it gives up little at first beyond a hint of plum and sundried tomato, its flavors are more generous, buoyed by a mouthwatering acidity that keeps the wine lively while fine, firm tannins gird its finish. It has a strong future: Cellar, then serve with roast beef.
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Wine Enthusiast
Sweet, rich and luscious in a palate-enveloping style, this cherry-bomb of a Merlot opens with a rush of ripe, round, fruit-liqueur flavors. Delicious as it is, it hangs there right into a slightly alcoholic finish. Some further bottle age should make for continued improvement.
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With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.