St. Supery Rutherford Merlot 2012
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Wilfred
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2012 St. Supéry Rutherford Merlot exhibits an excellent expression of the grape. Not trying to be a big or powerful red, this wine stays elegant and refined. The wine's red fruit flavors, tempered with a hint of sweet oak and classic graphite notes, make it a superb choice with roast pork. Drinking well now, with excellent cellar potential of several years. (Tasted: July 27, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Well-built and focused, with red currant and spicy, toasty aromas, featuring sleek flavors of black cherry, lead pencil and subtle herb. Drink now through 2021.
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Wine Enthusiast
Licorice and black plum notes give this wine a sultry edge, layered around generous tannin and leathery tobacco. Soft toward the finish, it provides a polished note of red currant and raspberry midway through, lifting much of the weight off the tongue. Cellar through 2020.
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Jeb
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James
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Robert
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St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery is a 100% Estate Grown, sustainably farmed winery located in the renowned Rutherford growing region in the heart of Napa Valley. The winery combines French chateau estate tradition with Napa Valley terroir and a focus on Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and other red Bordeaux varieties.
Committed to producing the highest quality estate wines without compromise, St. Supéry Estate Winery and Vineyards is proud to be certified Napa Green Land and Napa Green Winery. With St. Supéry’s reputation based on its valuable Napa Valley properties, a primary goal is to support biodiversity and sustainability while continuing the founding vision of a Napa Valley chateau for generations to come. St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery was founded in 1982. After a decade of researching properties with the advice from Napa Valley’s most respected vintners, the founding family purchased Dollarhide Ranch, over 1,530 acres of unplanted land high in the northeastern mountains which today is the source of St. Supéry’s distinctive estate Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The diversity of Dollarhide’s terroir contributes to the successful farming of red and white Bordeaux varieties.
The winery in Rutherford is home to winemaking, visitor facilities, and 35 acres planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. All the estate acreage owned by St. Supéry is farmed sustainably using minimal intervention and cultivation. In addition to being recognized for award winning wines, St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery champions wine education and exploration, offering a series of interactive wine experiences designed for all levels of wine enthusiasts.
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.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.