St. Francis Reserve Merlot 2015
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Product Details
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Somm Note
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Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from Sonoma Valley and 100% varietal, the 2015 Merlot Reserve offers more plum, black cherry, and currant style fruit as well as medium to full body, an open, sexy texture, moderate mid-palate depth and loads of upfront charm and character. I don't see it evolving as gracefully as the Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, but it offers ample pleasure today and should keep for 7-8 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Merlot Reserve opens with blueberry compote, blackberry pie, mulberries and plum preserves with exotic spices and earth nuances. The palate is full-bodied and generous, chock-full of fruit and framed by firm tannins and a velvety texture, finishing lively and long.
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Wine Spectator
Concentrated flavors of dark cherry, blackberry and plum pudding are rich and well-structured. Chocolate mousse and Asian spice notes fill in midpalate and linger on the creamy finish. Drink now through 2022.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a full-bodied, structured and youthful wine, varietal in its softness and approachability. Cassis and cherry exude forcefully around a core of thick tannin and oak, with an undertone of dried herb.
Other Vintages
2016-
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Robert
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Robert
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For more than four decades, the wines of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards have reflected the finest mountain and valley vineyards in Sonoma County. Our founder, Joe Martin, fell in love with Sonoma Valley and established St. Francis Vineyard in 1971, planting 22 acres of Chardonnay and the first 60 acres of Merlot in Sonoma Valley. After achieving great success as a grower, Joe opened his own winery in 1979 with his business partner Lloyd Canton.
Today, a new generation of winemakers, Katie Madigan and Chris Louton, continues our long tradition of luscious, elegant, fruit-driven wines from Sonoma County grapes. We farm more than 400 acres of Certified Sustainable estate vineyards in Sonoma Valley and Russian River Valley, each with varying compositions of loam, clay and volcanic soils. We also nurture long-term relationships with top Sonoma County grape growers, giving the Winery access to some of the region's most coveted old vines Zinfandel and other varietals from acclaimed vineyards.
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.
Perhaps the most historically significant appellation in Sonoma County, the Sonoma Valley is home to both Buena Vista winery, California's oldest commercial winery, and Gundlach Bundschu winery, California's oldest family-run winery.
It is also one of the more geologically and climactically diverse districts. The valley includes and overlaps four distinct Sonoma County sub-appellations, including Carneros, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma Mountain and Bennett Valley. With mountains, benchlands, plains, abundant sunshine and the cooling effects of the nearby Pacific, this appellation can successfully produce a wide range of grape varieties. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewürztraminer, and most notably, Zinfandel all thrive here. Ancient Zinfandel vines over 100 years old produce small crops of concentrated, spicy fruit, which in turn make some of the Valley's most unique wines. These can also be made as “field blends” (wines made from a mix of grape varieties grown in the same vineyard) along with Petite Sirah, Carignan and Alicante Bouschet.