Winemaker Notes
An enticing nose of blueberry compote and baking spice is woven with intricacies of earth and hibiscus. Generous black and red fruits open with juicy acidity on a structured palate with a moderate body, and supple, fine-grained tannins. Undertones of black olive appear throughout, with subtleties of licorice and Oolong tea as dark plum and cocoa powder linger in the finish.
Blend: 99% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Blackcurrants, darker cherries, leafy herbs, and chocolate notes all emerge from the 2020 Merlot, a round, supple, seamless Merlot with a great mid-palate as well as sweet tannins. It's a beautiful effort to drink over the coming decade. The blend is 99% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 22 months in 34% new French oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
Blueberry, cedar, leather and cigar box aromas are only half the show with this fantastic Merlot. A big bowl of blackcap raspberries and candied lemon peels perfectly matches the wine's slippery texture and juicy acidity. Velvety tannins close the deal.
Editors' Choice -
Decanter
Dense aromatics of black currant, smoked cedar plank and touches of tobacco and tea leaf. The palate is supple, with dark blue fruit flavours, plenty of savoury herbs and crushed black slate. There is ample tannin and structure to this wine, which will improve over the next 6-8 years.
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James Suckling
This has a fragrant nose of sage, dark cherries, cloves, salted plums and licorice. It’s full-bodied with fleshy tannins that melt into a deep core of dark and spicy fruit. Lovely texture and integration.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with 1% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Columbia Valley Merlot displays a dark ruby core and offers a sturdy nose of baked earth and clay with notes of roasted plum. Hints of oak spices sway out of the glass with aromas of nutmeg and cinnamon. Medium to full-bodied, the Merlot is balanced, fresh and firm, offering a tannic edge that lingers through the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Elegantly structured with sleek cherry and currant flavors that are accented by tobacco and spice flavors and finish with refined tannins. Drink now through 2028. 820 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.
An important winegrowing state increasingly recognized for its high-quality reds and whites, Washington ranks second in production in the U.S. after California. Washington wines continue to gain well-deserved popularity as they garner higher and higher praise from critics and consumers alike.
Washington winemakers draw inspiration mainly from Napa Valley, Bordeaux and the Rhône as well as increasingly from other regions like Spain and Italy. Most viticulture takes place on the eastern side of the state—an arid desert in the rain shadow of the Cascade mountains. Irrigation is made possible by the Columbia River. Temperatures are extreme, with hot and dry summers and cold winters, during which frost can be a risk.
Washington’s wine industry was initially built on Merlot, which remains an important variety to this day, despite having been overtaken in acreage planted by Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Bordeaux blends and Rhône blends are common as well as single varietal bottlings. Washington reds tend to express a real purity of concentrated fruit. The best examples have a bold richness, seamless texture, plush or powdery tannins and flavors such as licorice, herb, forest floor, espresso and dark chocolate.
In terms of white wine from Washington state, Riesling is the state’s major success story, producing crisp, aromatic examples with plenty of stone fruit that range from bone dry to lusciously sweet. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc perform nicely here as well, and Viognier is beginning to pick up steam.