Winemaker Notes
This youthful offering from Hudson Vineyards is deep, dark, and at the same time bright and aromatic. From the glass, the wine offers notes of red cherry, slate, flint, and caramel. On the palate, it is compact, clean and well defined, the red fruit character giving way to notes of nutmeg and burning embers. With time in the glass, and certainly with bottle age, the wine will open up and become more complex, broad, and expressive.
Blend: 93% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2015 Merlot Hudson Vineyards is still a very young wine. Blackberry, gravel, incense, licorice, spice, chocolate, tobacco and scorched earth stain the palate. This huge, potent Merlot packs a pretty serious punch. It will drink well for at least another decade. Impressive.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: With the pedigree of the Hudson Vineyards, the 2015 Arietta Merlot was already a banker. All I needed to do was to taste the wine and confirm the facts. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright and elegant. Its aromas and flavors of pure red fruit and lively minerality make it a nice choice with a piquant roast duck. (Tasted: September 17, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Known for elegant wines that combine power and finesse, Carneros is set in the rolling hills that straddle the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the abutting San Pablo Bay, combined with lots of midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing wines with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.
This cooler pocket of California lends itself to growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Carneros is an important source of sparkling wines made in the style of Champagne as well.