Winemaker Notes
#77 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2025
You can smell the 2022 Spring Mountain Merlot upon popping the cork. Ripe black plum, vanilla bean and anise jump out of the glass. Beautiful cola spice is intermingled with dark roast coffee aromatics. True to all our years of Merlot, the palate is soft and silky while still having amazing viscosity. The tannins are much softer this year but propped up by the small amount of Cabernet Franc used. There is a long lingering black pepper cola finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Richly structured and polished, with multilayered black cherry, roasted coffee bean and toasted spice flavors that build depth and plushness toward big but supple tannins.
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James Suckling
This offers soft aromas of blood plums, tomato bush and spices. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and acidity, giving notes of mocha, cassis and tobacco leaves.
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.
Above the town of St. Helena on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains sits the Spring Mountain District.
A dynamic region, its vineyards, cut by numerous springs and streams, vary in elevation, slope and aspect. Soils differ throughout with over 20 distinct types inside of the 8,600 acres that define the appellation. Within that area, only about 1,000 are planted to vineyards. Predominantly farmed by small, independent producers, the region currently has just over 30 wineries.
During the growing season, late afternoon Pacific Ocean breezes reach the Spring Mountain vineyards, which sit at between 400 and 1,200 feet. Daytime temperatures during mid summer and early fall remain slightly cooler than those of the valley floor.
Spring Mountain soils—volcanic matter and sedimentary rock—create intense but balanced reds with lush and delicate tannins. The area excels with Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and in some cooler spots, Chardonnay.