Winemaker Notes
Ripe plum skin and pencil lead dominate this aromatic vintage. Notes of cedar, blackberry, and cinnamon bark mingle with cherry and vanilla. On the palate, spicy notes hinting at black cherry, berry cobbler, clove, and cinnamon abound that leads into a long, velvety finish. A truly balanced vintage, playing the notes perfectly between ripe acidity and elegant tannins, making this one to hold on to, if you can.
Blend: 76% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The deep ruby/plum-hued 2017 Merlot (76% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, and 12% Malbec) is a medium to full-bodied, nicely textured 2017 that shows the more streamlined, elegant style of the vintage nicely. Offering plenty of chocolaty red and black fruits, dried herbs, and earth, it has ample character as well as length and should evolve for 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
Pretty sweet-berry, chocolate and black-olive character. Medium to full body. Hints of cedar. Very attractive now. A blend of 76% merlot, 12% cabernet franc and 12% malbec. Drink and enjoy.
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Wine Enthusiast
The aromas are tightly wound out of the gate, with notes of spice, bittersweet chocolate and dark raspberry. Mouthwatering, medium-bodied flavors follow. It brings a pleasing, if firm, sense of tannic structure, needing some time in the cellar for the tannins to integrate. Best after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With the addition of 12% Cabernet Franc and 12% Malbec, the 2017 Merlot opens to a proper frame of aromas with dusty plum and black cherry, with hints of black tea and dried sage in the glass. Medium to full-bodied, the wine offers a delightful expression of Merlot with a mineral tension that gives way to lifting tannins. Food-friendly in its youth, the wine ends with a lingering finish.
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.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.