Winemaker Notes
The exceptional 2021 growing season produced an epic and elegantly full-bodied expression of Merlot from their famed Three Palms Vineyard, with alluring aromas of huckleberry, fig jam, cranberry, cocoa and rose petals. On the palate, flavors of blackberry, cherry, molasses and wet slate minerality are framed by a sumptuous structure and fine, graceful tannins.
Blend: 87% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2021 Duckhorn Vineyards Three Palms Vineyards Merlot rocks like it often does. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers lasting aromas and flavors of savory spices, rocks-in-the-desert, and jammy berries. Enjoy it with a well-seasoned prime rib. (Tasted: May 23, 2024, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
This relaxed, deep and well-composed wine is rich in black fruit and oak spices on smooth, melted tannins. One of the classic California merlots, it is full-bodied and generous in dark cherry, tobacco leaf, cedar and bay leaf flavors, with accents of dark chocolate. Grown in the warmer, northern end of Napa Valley.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fresh blue and black fruits, savory undertones, mixed herbs, spices and graphite carry a compelling and mouthwatering Merlot from one of the region’s most celebrated vineyards for the variety.
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Wine Spectator
Handsomely structured and built for the long haul, with multilayered red currant and plum flavors laced with espresso and spice notes as this builds toward slightly firm tannins. Best from 2024 through 2033.
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.
One of Napa Valley’s oldest wine growing subregions but last to gain appellation status, Calistoga occupies the northernmost section of the valley. Beginning at the foot of Mount St. Helena, its vineyards stretch over steep canyons and roll out onto the valley floor. The soils in Calistoga are volcanic, which means they are heavy in minerals, low in organic matter and allow good drainage for vine roots, creating less green growth and more concentration of flavor within the grape berries.
Summer days are very hot but most nights cool down with moist ocean breezes sneaking in over the Mayacamas Mountains or from Knights Valley to its northwest.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the area’s star variety with Zinfandel coming in a strong second, though the latter commands far less price per tonnage so continues to be outshined by Cabernet in vineyard acreage, save for some important exceptions.