Clos Du Val Merlot 2005
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The 2005 Merlot has a deep purple center that graduates to a garnet hue along the perimeter. Black fruit, black olives, dried herbs and cassis characterize the nose. In the mouth, the wine delivers bold flavors of spice, licorice, blackberry and dark plum, with soft tannins and a long, lingering finish. This is a full bodied Merlot made in the classic Clos Du Val style of balance, elegance and complexity.
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Clos Du Val, French for “small vineyard estate of a small valley,” was founded in 1972, an era that wine writer Hugh Johnson referred to as “the turning point in modern wine history.” Two years before, the Goelet family tasked talented French-born winemaker Bernard Portet with finding vineyard land, anywhere in the world, capable of producing a world-class Cabernet Sauvignon.
Clos Du Val’s legendary debut Cabernet Sauvignon was one of only six California Cabernets selected for the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris Tasting, where California defeated some of Bordeaux’s finest wines. Ten years later, Clos Du Val’s reputation for creating some of Napa Valley's most gracefully age-worthy wines was solidified, when its 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon took first place in the Judgment of Paris rematch.
Still family-owned today, Clos Du Val farms 220 acres of estate vineyards in the Stags Leap District, and Yountville appellations and continues to craft wines of balance and complexity, showcasing the fruit from the outstanding terroir on which the estate lies.