Red Wines	Merlot	Napa Valley	California

My Rating (circle) :

Date Printed: 11/21/2008

Twomey Merlot 2003

(search item no. 88746)
collectible wine

PRICE ON 11/21/2008: $64.99

ratings pedigree (past vintages):
2002 The Wine Advocate rating: 94 points
2000 The Wine Advocate rating: 91 points

Winemaker's Notes:

Created by the same family that produces the impressive Cabernets of Silver Oak Cellars, the 2003 Twomey Merlot is a robust, yet elegant wine that balances intense fruit with suppleness. It displays a garnet color and a complex nose of plum, blackberry, dark chocolate and a hint of bay leaves. It has a smooth, velvety mouth-feel that builds to a crescendo of fruit and chocolate flavors and a lovely, long finish of black fruits and violets. Properly cellared this full-bodied Merlot should provide drinking pleasure until 2017.

Twomey Cellars originates in a single Napa Valley vineyard, the Soda Canyon Ranch, where Merlot grows with such extraordinary complexity that it calls for a wine of its own. To showcase the brilliance and balance of these grapes, winemaker Daniel Baron and the owners of the vineyard, Ray Duncan and his family, incorporate the Old World, labor-intensive approach used by classified growths in Bordeaux. Daniel Baron, who learned to make wine this way while working with some of the greatest winemakers and cellarworkers of Pomerol and St. Emilion, demonstrates that the meticulous care involved provides a pure reflection of the Duncan's vineyard.

My Notes:

About Twomey Cellars:

Twomey Cellars originates in a single Napa Valley vineyard, the Soda Canyon Ranch, where Merlot grows with such extraordinary complexity that it calls for a wine of its own. To showcase the brilliance and balance of these grapes, winemaker Daniel Baron and the owners of the vineyard, Ray Duncan and his family, incorporate the Old World, labor-intensive approach used by classified growths in Bordeaux. No other winery has ever applied these classical techniques to California Merlot (as far as anyone can tell); yet Daniel Baron, who learned to make wine this way while working with some of the greatest winemakers and cellarworkers of Pomerol and St. Emilion, demonstrates that the meticulous care involved provides a pure reflection of the Duncan's vineyard.

Today Duncan watches carefully over the progress of Twomey Cellars, extending a commitment to quality in viticulture and winemaking that he established more than thirty years ago. He has turned to the next generation of Duncans to manage the winery and sustain his exacting standards. The Duncan brothers, with decades of executive experience in the wine industry and other fields have forged a partnership to fulfill the striking potential of their family's vineyard.