Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This special selection, tight-cropped from 30 acres of 100% Merlot, is ripe and rich. This is a smoky and fruity wine, in barrel for 14 months. It has ripe black fruits and rich, dense structure. Spice and toast balance the fruit, giving an impressive sense of generosity. Drink from 2017.
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James Suckling
The leaf, mushroom and fruit character is very pretty in this wine. Medium body, fine tannins and a delicious finish. Pure merlot. Open and attractive.
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.
On the right bank of Bordeaux between St. Emilion and Bergerac, Cotes de Francs boasts southwestern exposed slopes that produce robust Merlot-based wines. A tiny amount of Sémillon is grown and made in both dry and sweet styles.