Winemaker Notes
The wine opens with lifted aromatics of violet and cacao supported by a lovely fruit set of raspberry, plum, wild blueberry. Savory tones of dried tobacco, thyme, and graphite broaden the mid-palate, bringing detail and nuance to the wine's full body frame. The finish is persistent with lingering notes of berry fruit, cedar, and black tea.
Blend: 75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2020 Merlot is a huge overachiever in this vintage. In reality, the 2020 is 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Franc, a blend that works so well. Black cherry, plum, mocha, incense and licorice are all dialed up in this brooding, powerhouse wine. The 2020 is beautifully done. It spent a year in barrique and a second in cask.
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James Suckling
Spiced plums, ripe blackberries, sweet spices, hazelnuts and hints of tar. Medium- to full-bodied, delicate and polished on the palate with a velvety, sleek tannin structure. Juicy acidity. Shows depth to the fruit with a lingering finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Blended with a splash of Cabernet Franc (15-20%), the 2020 Merlot spent 22 months in larger oak and will be released in the spring of 2024. Ripe black cherries, smoked tobacco, graphite, and hints of darker chocolate all define the aromatics, and it's fresh, focused, and medium-bodied on the palate. Drink this pretty, elegant Merlot over the coming 10-12 years. Despite its fresher, vibrant style, it has good mid-palate depth, concentration, and ripe tannins.
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Wine Spectator
Deeply structured and brooding, with rich currant, dried cherry, crushed stone and savory anise flavors that build tension toward broad-shouldered tannins. Drink now through 2030.
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.
Centered at the peak for which it is named, Mount Veeder is Napa’s largest sub-AVA. But even though the entire appellation spreads over 16,000 acres, vineyards cover a mere 1,000. Scattered among Douglas firs and bristlecone pines, Mount Veeder vineyards extend south from the upper elevations of the Mayacamas Mountains—the highest point at 2,400 feet—to the border of the Carneros region. Less than 25 wineries produce wine from Mount Veeder fruit.
Winemaking began early in this appellation. In 1864, Captain Stelham Wing presented the first Mount Veeder wine to the Napa County Fair; it came from today’s Wing Canyon Vineyard. Prohibition, of course, halted winemaking and viticulture wasn’t revitalized until the founding of Mayacamas Vineyards in 1951 and Bernstein Vineyards in 1964.
The Bernstein Vineyards was actually home to the first Petit Verdot in California, planted in 1975. Today most of the Petit Verdot in Napa Valley originates from this vineyard.
Rocky volcanic clay and ancient seabed matter dominate Mount Veeder soils—perfect for Bordeaux varieties. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot enjoy spectacular success. These varieties produce wines rich in brambly blackberry and black cherry fruit with herbal and floral aromatics. Structures are moderate to assertive and wines have great staying power.
Chardonnay from Mount Veeder is lush, full and balanced mineral and fresh citrus flavors.