My journey down the Bordeaux rabbit hole continues with the decadently textured Merlot grape. Characterized by blue fruits and round, silky tannins whose short chain structure sweeps the mid-palate, this is a very special wine. I am lucky to work with an organically farmed, terraced vineyard in the Napa Valley’s Coombsville appellation. The Black Vineyard is composed of volcanic soils that are rich in clay. When I taste wine, I often think of rocky soils as giving a wine its frame or its bones and rich clay soils as giving a wine its curves or its flesh. The textural nature of Merlot combined with volcanic clay soils, especially in a cool and even vintage like 2017 holds the potential for something truly pleasurable. We vinified this wine as gently as possible, both to avoid over extraction and to retain the delicate red and blue fruits and higher-toned aromatics in the wine. A two year élevage in neutral barrel followed by an additional year in bottle has this wine poised to drink exceptionally well right now.

84 cases produced

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