O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain Merlot 2014

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    Parker
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O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain Merlot 2014 Front Bottle Shot
O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain Merlot 2014 Front Bottle Shot O'Shaughnessy Howell Mountain Merlot 2014 Front Label

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Vintage
2014

Size
750ML

Your Rating

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Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

Dark ruby in color with an almost opaque core leads to intense aromas of blackberry, wild plum and black tea. On the palate, the wine is full bodied with balanced acidity and integrated tannins. This Merlot is approachable now, but has the characteristics to develop and improve for decades.

Professional Ratings

  • 94
    The 2014 Merlot, which is 100% Merlot, is actually one of the few truly great Merlots made in Napa Valley. (Pahlmeyer nails it with another one, but there are a few others.) This wine has terrific fruit intensity, big, deep, chocolate/mocha, black cherry and currant notes, and a large frame filled with extract, glycerin and juicy, chewy fruit. It is a sumptuous Merlot fruit bomb to drink over the next 10-15 years.

Other Vintages

2004
  • 93 Wine
    Spectator
O'Shaughnessy

O'Shaughnessy

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O'Shaughnessy, California
O'Shaughnessy Winery Image

O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery sits at 1,800 feet on the heralded Howell Mountain appellation in the beautiful Napa Valley. Founded in 1996, the estate encompasses one hundred and twenty acres. Winemaker Sean Capiaux has overseen the planting of the vineyard and selected numerous clones of Cabernet Sauvignon and all seven of the historic Bordeaux varietals for this unique property.

O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery uses modern equipment to produce non-interventionist wines that are naturally fermented and bottled unfined and unfiltered. These techniques allow the varietal character and terroir of O’Shaughnessy Estate vineyards to be the stars of the show.

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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.

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Howell Mountain Wine

Napa Valley, California

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Today Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of this part of Napa’s rugged, eastern hills, but Zinfandel was responsible for giving the Howell Mountain growing area its original fame in the late 1800s.

Winemaking in Howell Mountain was abandoned during Prohibition, and wasn’t reawakened until the arrival of Randy Dunn, a talented winemaker famous for the success of Caymus in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early eighties, he set his sights on the Napa hills and subsequently astonished the wine world with a Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Shortly thereafter Howell Mountain became officially recognized as the first sub-region of Napa Valley (1983).

With vineyards at 1,400 to 2,000 feet in elevation, they predominantly sit above the fog line but the days in Howell Mountain remain cooler than those in the heart of the valley, giving the grapes a bit more time on the vine.

The Howell Mountain AVA includes 1,000 acres of vineyards interspersed by forestlands in the Vaca Mountains. The soils, shallow and infertile with good drainage, are volcanic ash and red clay and produce highly concentrated berries with thick skins. The resulting wines are full of structure and potential to age.

Today Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petite Sirah thrive in this sub-appellation, as well as its founding variety, Zinfandel.

HNYOSHMET14C_2014 Item# 239391

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