Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming all from the estate vineyard in Yountville, the 2019 Roberta's Reserve is all Merlot that was brought up in 70% new French oak, with a scant 225 cases produced. It's another totally thrilling vintage for this cuvée and offers a Pomerol-like style in its red, blue, and black fruits as well as tobacco, cedary herbs, damp earth, and truffle-like aromas and flavors. Incredibly elegant, full-bodied, pure, and as seamless as they come, this is one of those wines that brings incredible intensity and depth while staying understated, flawlessly balanced, and ethereal. It's one of the finest Merlots in the world. Enjoy bottles any time over the coming 20 years or so.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Roberta's Reserve State Lane Vineyard bursts with notions of juicy black plums, boysenberry preserves and chocolate-covered cherries, plus suggestions of licorice, cedar chest and charcuterie with an exotic waft of Indian spices. The lively, medium to full-bodied palate is completely filled with seductive, spicy fruit, framed by ripe, rounded tannins, finishing long and fragrant. Made from 100% Merlot, aged in 70% new French oak, the alcohol is 14.5%.
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.
One of Napa Valley's most historic sub-appellations, Yountville spreads through some of the valley's ideal cooler sites and enjoys success with a handful of different and significant grape varieties.
Syrah competes strongly with Cabernet Sauvignon here for optimal vineyard real estate followed by Pinot noir, Pinot blanc and Sauvignon blanc.
This sub-AVA of Napa Valley is rich in the history that makes Napa Valley what it is today, and not just for red wines. Moët & Chandon entered the California winemaking business via Yountville in 1973 with the establishment Domaine Chandon. Their goal has always been to produce top quality méthode champenoise sparkling wines.
Christian Moueix, originally responsible for managing Chateau Petrus and La Fleur-Petrus in Pomerol, arrived in Yountville in the early 1980s. He formed a partnership with Rohin Lail and Marcia Smith, inheritors of Napanook vineyard from their father John Daniel of Inglenook in Rutherford. In 1995 Moueix became sole owner of Napanook and chose the name Dominus, which today produces some of Napa’s highest scoring, age-worthy Bordeaux Blends.