Winemaker Notes
From the start, this Merlot offers open, expressive aromatics. Scents range from dark fruit to earthy tones, with subtle oak qualities of chocolate and warm baking spices. The forefront of the palate is a fruit basket of plum, black cherry, and blackberry, with hints of olive tapenade. Supported by mouthwatering acidity and powerful but refined tannins, this is everything you want in a Walla Walla Merlot—a true expression of the terroir—approachable now and worthy of a spot in your cellar.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Full-bodied, the 2022 Merlot exhibits smooth, supple red and black fruit, cedar, tobacco, and earth, with 12% Cabernet Franc and 6% Malbec contributing their parts. Persistent on the palate, with moderate length and a good finish, it's a well-made wine from well-known sites such as Seven Hills, Pepper Bridge, and Octave.
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James Suckling
Dark cherries, blackberries, crushed herbs and spices on the nose. Tight and chewy with medium to full body, a grainy texture to the tannins and a juicy flow of fruit underneath. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Merlot was blended with 12% Cabernet Franc and 6% Malbec and matured in 42% new French oak. It has open-knit aromas of black cherries and plums, tar, garrigue and allspice. The full-bodied palate offers concentrated, gently oaky flavors. It has firm, grainy tannins, juicy acidity and a polished finish.
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Wine Spectator
A potent vanilla mocha latte aroma—with extra shots—mixes it up with notes of violets and boot leather. Dark chocolate-covered cherry and ginger zest flavors are flanked by woody bits of cedar and pine. The wine's bright acidity is way out ahead of its plush tannins.
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.