Winemaker Notes
Blend: 82% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackcurrants, black cherry fruit, tobacco, mint and chocolate on the nose. Some earthy undertones. It’s layered and balanced with creamy tannins and a medium to full body. Supple finish. 82% merlot, 14% cabernet franc and 4% cabernet sauvignon.
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Vinous
A cascade of chalk dust, lavender, incense and dried blackberries wafts up to form an enticing bouquet as the 2021 Merlot Walla Walla Valley evolves in the glass. This mixes depths of ripe red and blue fruit with exotic spices, citrus and mounting tannins that add tension throughout. It finishes with fantastic length, leaving hints of dark chocolate and licorice through the structured yet wonderfully balanced finale.
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Wine Spectator
Precise and finely structured, with black currant, licorice and espresso accents that gather tension toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2031. 1,200 cases made.
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.