Winemaker Notes
2019 is their 21st consecutive vintage of "Mernet" (mare-nay) their proprietary marriage of Merlot and Cabernet. This year the blend is 50% Merlot, all coming from our “Mailbox Vineyard”, and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon Clone 337 from our “Big K” vineyard. The resulting wine is a seamless blend with an emphasis on high-toned sweet delicious rich fruit with an almost hidden depth and structure.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A solid and structured red with bark and blackberry, as well as sap and pine-cone undertones. Medium-bodied and tannic, yet polished and deep. The tannins melt into the wine. A blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Drink after 2025.
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Wine & Spirits
Keenan’s Mailbox Vineyard consistently provides the merlot-half of Mernet, then the team looks for cabernet sauvignon to bring out what Michael Keenan calls “merlot’s high-toned sweet spot.” In 2019, their choice was clone 337 cabernet sauvignon grown at the Big K Estate Vineyard high up Spring Mountain. The combination takes on a foresty mountain freshness. There’s lovely depth to the ripe fruit, the tannins delicately rich and yielding. For now, the new oak is overt, bringing scents of freshly ground coffee, but the wine has a tensile strength that will sustain it as the oak and fruit marry.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A strong effort, the 2019 Mernet Reserve—a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, aged in one-third new oak, delivers plenty of almost grapey fruit, cassis and black cherries, underscored by hints of vanilla and cedar. It's medium to full-bodied, richly tannic and velvety, with a long, mouthwatering finish.
Rating: 93+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Red Blend Mernet Reserve is one of the standouts and is clearly an outstanding wine. Medium-bodied and elegant on the palate, it has a fresh, herbal, complex style in its notes of chocolaty dark fruits, leafy herbs, cedarwood, and spicy oak. It should keep for 10-15 years.
While the beauty and history of the land are appealing, it is the richness of the soils that makes the hillside perfect for an estate winery. These soils are, in great measure, responsible for the dramatic intensity of the fruit associated with the ultra-premium wines produced at Robert Keenan Winery.
Keenan completed a solar power system on their property that went on-line in 2007. The system supplies all of the estate’s energy needs, including the winery, administrative offices, visitor hospitality area, and the homes located on the property. The Napa Valley Vintners have recognized Keenan as a “green” winery, which they proudly announce on the back labels: Solar Powered and Sustainably Farmed.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.