Winemaker Notes
Deft handling in the Cellar during the winemaking process creates complex aromas of plum, boysenberry, cedar, chocolate, and sage. On the palate the wine is full bodied with fine-grained tannins that displays a lifted elegance with a hint of graphite minerality leading to a beautiful lingering finish. Enjoy now and over the next 10+ years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Toasty nose of blackberries, plums, dried herbs, bark, cloves and spice box. It’s full-bodied with fine tannins and lively acidity. Fleshy with a spicy character and a flavorful, long finish. Drink from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Merryvale's 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Saint Helena comes from an estate vineyard close to 1,000 feet above sea level on the eastern side of the valley. It's a ripe, rich wine, loaded with black cherries and caramel-like oak nuances. Full-bodied, plush and richly textured, it finishes long and supple. Despite the altitude of the site, it's ripe and soft enough to drink over the next decade or so.
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Wine Spectator
This has a nice savory edge, which lends a cool menthol note to the core of dark currant and blackberry preserves. A cold cast iron spine holds the finish in place. Rather forthright in profile. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from the same vineyard as the flagship cuvée, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena has a deep purple color as well as outstanding notes of pure cassis fruits intermixed with notes of tobacco, resinous herbs, and sappy flower notes. It’s medium, fresh, focused, and balanced, with lots to love.
Merryvale Vineyards is a family-owned Napa Valley winery dedicated to passionate winemaking and the fine art of living well. For the past 25 years Merryvale has been turning exceptional Napa Valley grapes into world class wine. Merryvale is world renowned for rich, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, the iconic Bordeaux-style red blend, Profile, and our everyday drinking, fruit driven brand, Starmont. Merryvale's historic building was the first winery built in the Napa Valley after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, and has become a must see attraction for visitors to the valley.
Merryvale is committed to protecting and preserving the environment through conservation, renewable energy and sustainable farming practices at our three estate vineyards. Merryvale has received Napa Green Vineyard, Napa Green Winery and Bay Area Green Business certifications.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
St. Helena is in the heart of the Napa Valley, nestled between Calistoga to the north and Rutherford on its southern border. On its western side, the Mayacamas Mountains guard it from the cooling effects of the Pacific Ocean; to its east stand the Vaca Mountains. In conjunction, these mountain ranges serve to lock in summer daytime heat. But in the evening, cool air from the San Pablo Bay funnels up through the valley, creating very chilly nights. It isn’t uncommon for temperatures to drop 50 degrees, a shift that promotes a balance of sugar ripeness and acidity in wine grapes.
St. Helena contains a plethora of different soil types in a small area, which have been enhanced over centuries by rain runoff from both mountain ranges. Its vineyards cover a variety of terrain, spreading across the bucolic valley floor and its benchlands.
These ideal topographic and climatic growing conditions easily caught the attention of early winemaking pioneers. In fact, St. Helena is the birthplace of Napa Valley’s commercial wine industry. Dr. Crane founded his cellar in 1859, David Fulton in 1860 and Charles Krug in 1861.
Today there are no less than 400 separate vineyards planted within the 12,000 acres that make up the St. Helena appellation.
Revered most for its red wines based on Bordeaux varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, the St. Helena appellation is also a source of superior Syrah, Zinfandel and Sauvignon blanc.