DUCKHORN
2005 NAPA Merlot  $49.99 (back in stock/May 2008)
2003 Estate Merlot  Sale $79.99
2002 Howell Mountain Merlot $69.99
2004 Three Palms Merlot $79.99

One of California's most famous Merlot producers, Duckhorn debuted with Merlot way back with the 1978 vintage!  Their grapes come from several locations around the Napa Valley, including the Three Palms Vineyard near Calistoga.  They now offer single vineyard wines, too.

The Duckhorn style is rather rich and made with an eye towards cellaring  potential.   It is not produced with the idea of being consumed 12 months after the vintage, though the wines are well-balanced and certainly showy in their youth.  
We opened a bottle of Duckhorn's 1979 Merlot not too long ago.  This was, at 21 years of age, magnificent!  Tasting their old wines alongside the new vintages, once can see the change in winemaking.  Today's wines are more plump and bigger, having (we suspect) higher alcohol and more fruit.  

The "regular" bottling of 2005 is quite bright and has a hint of wood.  This is a really "fine" wine.  I'm impressed by how polished the wine tastes at this stage and imagine it will age handsomely, too.  If you buy into the notion that Merlot is simply "weak" Cabernet, this wine may change your mind.  It's more complex than a good many nice Cabernet wines.

The Three Palms bottling is great.  This is probably the height of Napa Valley Merlot.  But their "Estate" wine is also exceptional and shows lots of deep, dark fruit.  More aggressive and big is their Howell Mountain bottling.  It's routinely aged a year longer than its stable mates, since the wine has more structure and tannin.  All are limited in availability.

 

 

 

SUMMERS 2005 Knights Valley Sale $19.99

Jim Summers spent a number of years in the banking business before cashing in his plastic pocket-protector for a tractor.  He and his wife Beth are living in Calistoga, Napa's northernmost wine town.  They're in the same neighborhood as Robert Pecota and Chateau Montelena.  

We especially appreciate the quality of the Summers' wine and also their sensible, realistic pricing policies.  

Knights Valley is an area north and west of the Summers' home base of Calistoga.  It's between Napa and the Alexander Valley.

This map gives you an idea of the location of various Sonoma County appellations.  

Jim makes a bit less than 600 cases of the Knights Valley  wine.  The 2005 is a deep, dark, nicely-structured wine (this means, in case you're not well-versed in eno-speak, that it's not a flat, flabby, Cabernet-Light sort of wine...it 

 stands on its own two legs and quite nicely, at that!).

The wine displays a lovely dark fruit fragrance.  Berries, plums, etc.  The oak is in the background...you can sense it's there, but the wine is not oaky.  The fruit is charming and it's nice drinking now.

 

TRUCHARD

The Truchards came to Napa's Carneros region in the 1970s and started with about 20 acres of plum trees which they converted to vineyards.  Over the years, they've been able to buy up neighboring properties and today they have 400 acres of land with 270 of them devoted to vines.

Dr. Tony Truchard had been practicing medicine in Reno, Nevada before winding up in California.  One of his ancestors has been in the grape growing business without much success, but he was trying to grow grapes in Texas.  The Carneros region didn't have a whole lot of vineyards at the time.  The Winery Lake Vineyard, though, seemed to produce good fruit and both BV and Louis Martini had vineyards there.  Carneros Creek was a new project at the time, too.  

Robert Mondavi was interested in Truchard's grapes and so was Acacia and, later, Saintsbury.  

Many grape growers, seeing the price of the products made from their fruit, take the plunge and start producing their own wine.  The Truchards waited until 1989 before embarking on their own wine project.  Today they make many different varieties and they remain a leading grower in the Carneros region.

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were said to thrive in this area and experts felt it was too cool for the cultivation of Merlot.  But the Truchards have proven those "experts" wrong.  With proper cultivation techniques, the cool Carneros region provides adequate "hang time" and maturity.

The 2002 Merlot from Truchard is a delicious bottle of wine.  It's rather much like most Truchard wines: elegant.  This is not an estate which makes huge, dark, full-throttle, high octane wines.  The style features more finesse and it avoids the "extreme" elements which some people find so pleasing.  You won't find 15% alcohol, tons of oak or residual sugar in the Truchard Merlot.

Instead, here's a wine with hints of plums and black cherry fruit.  Truchard's 2002 was matured in French oak barrels, about one-third of the wood being new.  Still, the cedary tones are complementary rather than domineering.  The tannin level is modest, so this is excellent right now and it ought to remain in good condition for another three to five years.  

Since they're not buying fruit on the open market, the Truchards can sell this wine for a rather reasonable sum.  We think it's one of the best Napa Merlots on the market and it's $28 price tag makes it all the more attractive.

 

Currently in stock:  2002 TRUCHARD Carneros/Napa MERLOT $27.99

CHESTER KIDDER

This is a new label, the brain child of Washington State wine mogul Allen Shoup.

Allen had run the Chateau Ste. Michelle wine empire for many years before leaving to start a much smaller and much more ambitious (in terms of quality) winery program.  It's called Long Shadows and features six different wine brands.  Each has a "guest" winemaker whose "signature" appears on each wine.

The Chester Kidder wine, though, is named after Shoup's grand parents, Mr. Chester and Ms. Kidder.  The winemaker is Gilles Nicault, who used to work as the enologist/cellar guy at Woodward Canyon winery.  Gilles is the "guest" winemaker for this label, though he's actually in charge of all the wines being made at Long Shadows.  

The 2002 vintage is a blend of 47% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Franc.  The wine was matured for 27 months in French oak and it's a gorgeous wine!  You'll find lots of the typically "plummy" fruit of Washington State Merlots and a delicious cedary tone from the wood.  It's quite showy and very drinkable now.  We suspect it may be cellared for five to ten more years, but why wait?

They produced approximately 300 cases.  That ain't enough!

Currently in stock:  2002 Chester Kidder Red Wine $49.99

 

 

CORTÉ RIVA

The Corte Riva story in unusual, to some extent, in that it's a partnership of two gentlemen from the Philippines.  They both emigrated in the late 1970s and arrived in different parts of California before fate brought them together in the Napa Valley.  Lawrence Cortez and Romel Rivera were both vineyard workers and met while tending the vines up in Calistoga.    Lawrence is married to Romel's cousin Nieves, so this enterprise is now truly a family affair.

They started making wine in 1996 and, at the urging of friends, started up their own brand, combing and abbreviating the names Cortez and Rivera to Corté Riva.

The two, when they're not moonlighting with this little project, work at Pride Mountain Winery.  Romel is the assistant winemaker and Lawrence is the cellar-master.  

Most of the fruit for their 2003 Merlot comes from the Kenefick Ranch in Calistoga.  There's a small addition of Cabernet Sauvignon here, giving the wine a bit more body.   We find this to have a nice, sweet oak quality to it, but it's less "vanillin" than the Pride Merlot, for example.  

The 2004 is a deep, big, rich red.  Full-throttle Napa Merlot, with plenty of dark fruit (plums, black cherries) and nice oak.  

Production is tiny presently.  Only a few hundred cases were made.

 

 

TWOMEY
2003 Napa Merlot (List $65)  Sale $52.99

The proprietor of the famous Silver Oak winery is the owner of this new vineyard and cellar.

The Duncan family owns Silver Oak and they purchased a vineyard site in Napa's Soda Canyon area for the production of Merlot.  While many Merlot vineyards are planted in clay soils, this site features a volcanic terroir.  Further, Raymond Duncan and winemaker Daniel Baron planted particular clones of Merlot, which they claim are "French clones," rather than Californian.

Baron did some "industrial espionage" in France and is a big fan of the wines from Pomerol and St. Emilion.  One technique he brought back is called soutirage traditional.  This is a method of racking the wine from one barrel to another, but without pumping the wine.   This requires something called "gravity" and something else called "patience."  

The 2003 vintage is their fifth harvest.  Good work, too.  The wine is 96% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc (remember, Baron models his wine after those from Pomerol).  While Silver Oak Cabernets are matured in American oak barrels, Twomey is done in French wood, 80% of the barrels being brand new.  I find this to show lots of dark fruit notes and a modest amount of wood...it's certainly not the oak-laden wine of Silver Oak fame.  It's got good structure, so cellaring it for a few years is certainly appropriate, but you can drink one tonight, too, if you like.

 

SHAFER
2004 Napa Merlot  SALE $41.99

The Shafer family purchased a couple of hundred acres of property  in the Stags Leap are back in 1972.   John Shafer had been in the publishing business and something about farming lured him to this site in the Napa Valley.   The family planted some grapes and was selling fruit before making their own wine in 1978.  I recall visiting the place and finding this wine to be quite a good Cabernet:  rich, cedary, woodsy and supple...most attractive in its youth.  

They later added Merlot (amongst others) to the portfolio.  Their early vintages of Merlot were certainly pleasant, but simple and a bit fat and flat.  Over the years Shafer Merlot has developed most handsomely.  It is a rather deep wine with ripe fruit notes and a touch of oak.  I'm not sure I'd suggest cellaring these for any great length of time, but for short term drinking (three to eight years from the vintage date), this is an attractive Merlot.  

The 2004 is 'fortified' with 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc.  Forty percent new oak.  Big and deep, but it's also a bit 'potent', being nearly 15% alcohol, so fasten your seat belt at the dinner table.

A fellow came in the shop last year, perusing the selection of "best buy" wines near the entrance to the store.  I asked if I could be of assistance and he said "No...I'm in the wine trade.  I'm fine."  
A few minutes later the fellow shouted out "Shame on you!  Shame on you for not having John Shafer's lovely Merlot in the store!!"  
I was shocked by this, since we do, of course, usually have Mr. Shafer's lovely  Merlot.  It turns out this rube was a grape grower and sells his fruit to Shafer.    Had I been quicker and more acerbic (than usual), I'd have scolded him with "Shame on you!  Shame on you for charging Mr. Shafer so much for those grapes."

STAG'S LEAP WINE CELLARS 2004 Napa Valley MERLOT List $42 SALE $36.99

The Winiarski family continues to make supple, silky red wines at their Napa Valley facility in the Stag's Leap District.  They started producing Merlot on its own back in the mid-1970s, but only on a sporadic basis.  Today, it's a regular offering in the Stag's Leap portfolio.  

Much like their Napa Valley Cabernet (they have two single vineyard Cabernets and a "reserve" bottling called Cask 23), this is a wine which likely won't win blind-tastings.  It is neither excessively oaky, nor is it particularly tannic.  As both those features seem to be requirements for praise amongst wine "geeks", Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Merlot remains a popular item for those who actually pay for and drink a bottle of wine once in a while.  I suspect their Merlots last nicely for five or six years, but have not set any aside to find out! 

The 2003 Merlot comes from three vineyard sources.  Much is from the Winiarski's "Arcadia" estate. This is a vineyard site not far from the town of Napa.    There's also fruit from their Oak Knoll vineyard and a small amount of wine from the famed SLV (Stag's Leap Vineyard) property.

We were pleasantly surprised with this 2003 bottling.  It's got nice dark fruit notes and shows woodsy, graphite-like fragrances.  The wine is lush and supple on the palate...very fine!

 

BLACKBIRD VINEYARDS

Some years ago we tasted a lovely Merlot from Mia Klein's winery, Selene.  She usually has good Merlot, but this one carried a vineyard designation, "Blackbird" and it was unusually good.

The vineyard, located in the Oak Knoll area of Napa, is south of Yountville and north of the Carneros region.  If you know where Trefethen's winery is...well, that's Oak Knoll.

The Merlot grape is said to derive its name from the French term for 'young blackbird.'  Some say the grape, when ripe, has a color reminiscent of blackbirds.   So, now you know why Blackbird Vineyards is a Merlot specialist of sorts.  

The vineyard has sold fruit to a bunch of highly regarded vintners.  Aside from Mia Klein and her Selene label, grapes from this property have been snapped up by Viader, Pride, Lail, Harlan and Behrens & Hitchcock over the past so many vintages.  In 2003 the vineyard was sold to investment guru Michael Polenske and he decided to hire a winemaker and see what sort of vino could be produced from his new "toy."  

The winemaker for this little flight of fancy is Sarah Gott (she's formerly associated with Phelps and Quintessa).  

With the best wines of France's Pomerol district as their benchmark, Gott and Polenske are striving to produce a wine reflecting the particular Oak Knoll terroir from this modest ten acre site.  There's a page out of the Phelps' Insignia winemaking recipe book here, as the wine has nice, deep, dark fruit notes and a lovely bit of wood to 'frame' it.  The tannin level is modest, so I suspect this will be best over the next three to five to ten years.  

Blackbird 2004 is 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.  It saw a bit more than half new oak and was bottled after about a year and a half in wood.  Sure, they could call it "Merlot," but they feel it's more important to offer the wine as representative of the vineyard and not so much of a particular grape variety. 

So, you can pay a thousand bucks a bottle for Petrus or $75 for this...that's an easy call!

 

Currently in stock:  2004 BLACKBIRD VINEYARDS Napa Valley "Red"  $74.99

 

BEHRENS & HITCHCOCK
2003 Napa MERLOT  $41.99

This small property has been "hot" for a few years.   They make good, nicely-balanced wines without going overboard on oak or tannin.  
The winery facility is located on top of Spring Mountain in Napa.  Only a few hundred cases of this or that are produced. 
A large production for them is about 400 cases of a particular wine.

Las Amigas was a vineyard originally planted by Louis Martini.  They made the first varietal bottling of Merlot in California, releasing a blend of 1968 and 1970 vintages, though I don't think the fruit came from Las Amigas.    Martini, on somewhat of a downward spiral since those golden days, sold the vineyard to vineyard "baron" Andy Beckstoffer.  In 1993 Beckstoffer yanked out the vineyard and re-planted it with Chardonnay and Merlot of virus-resistant clones (hopefully virus resistant).  B&H has had good wines from this property, but we are currently sold out.

The Alder Springs Vineyard Merlot comes from a northern Mendocino county vineyard.  Small yields from this site translate into intense wine.  Unusually dense Merlot, actually.  The 2002 has a nice cocoa and smoky tone to it.  Very fine and drinkable now with well-seasoned foods.  That's gone now, too.

We do have a solid, plummy, ripe 2003 Merlot from Napa.  No vineyard designation.  Nice wine to drink now and it ought to last a few more years.

I've not met their office person, but suspect she's either an aspiring actress or she's in the federal witness protection program.  Her name: Schatzi Throckmorton.

RUSTON FAMILY

The Ruston family came to the Napa Valley in 1941 and they've been there ever since.

Today John Ruston is a wine-interested guy, farming a bit of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot on the family homestead, just west of downtown St. Helena.  

We now have our third (or fourth?) vintage of Merlot from Ruston, a 2002 vintage from two vineyards in the Napa Valley.  The wine is predominantly made of Garvey family vineyards fruit with about 13% coming from the Caldwell vineyard in southeastern Napa.    This has a lovely cherry note along with a touch of red plums.  It's not an over-the-top, oak monster, so if you're looking for something with a lot of wood, this isn't going to be your wine.

Another really nice wine from Ruston is a "Bordeaux-styled" blend called "La Maestra."  They made only 254 cases of this Merlot-based red which also features 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 7% Cabernet Franc.  One special feature is that this comes entirely from Ruston's estate and it's (oh by the way) organically farmed.    

The "maestra" reference is for Lorraine Ruston, who teaches English as a second language in the Napa Valley.  A student or two has been instrumental in tending the family vineyard!

 

Currently In stock:  2002 Ruston Napa Merlot Sold Out
2001 "La Maestra" $44.99

FROG'S LEAP WINERY

John Williams is a big proponent of sustainable farming.  He makes some terrific wines which are very food-friendly since they're routinely under 14% alcohol.

Merlot grows nicely in Rutherford and Williams has a substantial vineyard of it near the Frog's Leap winery in the eastern part of the valley.  The clay soil is ideal for Merlot, especially one that's nicely balanced and immediately drinkable.  

The 2005 is the current vintage.  Medium-full bodied, the wine displays lots of red and some black fruit aromas with a hint of wood.  John is mindful of the level of oak in his wines, so he tends to use the barrels for maturation, development and a touch of "seasoning" for the wine, rather than making it the central theme.   We like the wine and expect it will continue to develop over the next 5 to ten years.  It's quite lovely now, though.

 

Currently in stock:  2005 Frog's Leap Napa MERLOT Sale $29.99






ROMBAUER

Rombauer is a former airline pilot-turned wine baron.  

He established a nice winery in Napa Valley along the Silverado Trail and has made a big splash in the world of Chardonnay, especially.  

 

But Merlot is a wine which seems to appeal to those looking for something soft, full-bodied and not too tannic or oaky.  The 2003 vintage is their current release.  The wine has 17% Cabernet Sauvignon blended into it, along with some Cabernet Franc and Syrah!    You'll find a bit of ripe plum fruit and just a hint of oak.  Not intended for extended cellaring, this is a wine to drink now or next year or two.

 

Currently in stock:  2003 Napa Valley Merlot  Sold Out

HARRISON VINEYARD
1998 Napa Merlot $34.99
1998 "Millennium" Merlot $79.99

The Harrison family owns a few acres next to Bob Long in the eastern hills of the Napa Valley above Highway 128.   They've got a thriving olive oil business and produce some dynamite mustards, too.  Somehow they manage to find time to make a little wine and do a nice job.  Merlot is a rather elegant wine in the Harrison portfolio, medium-bodied and drinkable upon release.  Limited production.  
The Millennium bottling requires a king's ransom if you're interested to acquire one of the few hundred bottles produced.  It is, though, a very impressive bottle of wine.   I wish I could afford to drink this!

L'ECOLE 41
2005 Columbia Valley Merlot  $29.99

One of Washington state's most famous "little" wineries is today viewed as a much larger fish than a decade or two ago.

L'Ecole 41 is situated in an old school house and it's still family owned and operated.  Merlot has been their main red wine for decades and they continue to make good wines.

We currently have their 2005 vintage.  It's about 80% Merlot with 12% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot.  Matured in small oak, there's a nice touch of wood to the wine, giving it a brown spice note to add complexity to the black cherry fruit of the Merlot, etc.  It's quite drinkable now and will continue to show well for several more years.

LEONETTI WINERY

One of the most impressive track records in the wine industry has been racked up by the Leonetti winery.  

Its wines are routinely in the "superb" column and they're remarkably consistent.

We have been fortunate to have been buying Leonetti wines for many years and we receive a few bottles of their Merlot each vintage.  We didn't discover them until after they gave up making Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Merlot Blanc.  

Their Merlot wines are nicely balanced in terms of fruit and tannin.  Oak is quite prominent when the wines are first released, but it seems to marry well and become nicely integrated with bottle aging.  

The 2005 is their most recent release.  At $85 a bottle, it's an extravagant purchase, to be sure.  But the wine is tops.

Currently in stock:  Please inquire.   No mail order sales.
Walk in customers only.

 

 

SELENE

Winemaker Mia Klein has quite a following for her wines.  She's associated with Fisher Vineyards in the Mayacamas Mountains, as well as having on her résumé wineries such as Dalla Valle, Etude and Araujo's "Eisele Vineyard".  Her own label is called Selene and Merlot is the flagship wine.  She sells most of it to restaurants, so it's not something that's easy to find.  The fruit comes from a vineyard in Calistoga and one in St. Helena.  Klein manages to capture a nice berry/plum character in the wine.  Despite using a significant percentage of new French oak cooperage to mature the wine, you won't find this to be particularly oaky.  

Currently in stock: Sold Out...





PAHLMEYER

The Pahlmeyer name is well known as the home of "celebrity" winemakers.  The place is owned by former lawyer, Jayson Pahlmeyer.

I believe 1986 was Pahlmeyer's first vintage, with his wine having been made in the early days by Randy Dunn.   The second celebrity winemaker was Helen Turley, but she, for one reason or another, moves on eventually and today the wines are made by the soon-to-be-famous Erin Green (though she's already famous amongst Napa Valley winemaking circles).  

Merlot from this property is rather huge.  They get fruit from various locations in Napa and blend in a tiny bit of Cabernet.  The wine spends about a year and a half in new French oak and it's a full-throttle, pedal-to-the-metal Napa red.   

Only a few bottles are available.

 

Currently in stock:  2003 Pahlmeyer Merlot Sale $79.99

 

CLOS DU BLAH

We recall a fellow named Frank Woods first stopping by the shop to have us taste his new Sonoma County wines.  Mr. Woods (Monsieur du Bois in French) was a former marketing whiz for some company like Procter & Gamble.  Woods started with a vineyard, then had wine made for him before finally building his own place.  He told me once that they decided to make a wine for immediate drinking since his market research showed that most people open a bottle of wine within 90 days of buying it.  

"Why make a wine that needs five or ten years of aging if people are going to drink it now?" he asked.  The other bit of method to Woods' madness was to offer his Merlot packaged with a blue label and an electric blue foil capsule.  

"Marketing studies show women are magnetically attracted to the electric blue.  Since many shop for food in the grocery store, we wanted a package which would get their attention."  

Mr. Woods ended up selling the winery in the late 1980s to the Hiram Walker drinks firm.  The focus of this place still features wines that are more market-driven than enological artistry.  The wines from this place are known in the trade as "Clos du Blah," as the wines tend to be rather bland and simple.  It's one of the few "grocery store wines" we have in the shop.  And the new vintage lacks the electric blue capsule.
  

Currently in stock:  Sonoma County Merlot Sale Priced $13.99

 

MARILYN MERLOT

The wines made under this label have been rather standard in quality, but then I have never met a customer who's interested in these who cared what was inside the bottle.

 

The current vintage is $24.99 and a perfectly pleasant bottle of wine.  Most of the bottles we sell are to "collectors" rather than people who intend to open a bottle.  In fact, judging by the folks who ask for this, I'd be surprised if very many of them actually drink wine.

 

 

CAKEBREAD WINERY

The Cakebread family has gained quite a following for its wines over the past couple of decades.

We find the wines a bit on the pricey end of the spectrum, but that's "life in Napa Valley" it seems.  If you need a gift and want the recipient to know you dropped a wad of cash, this is a good label...

Cakebread Merlot is a fairly deep wine, showing dark fruit notes and a whiff of wood.  It's ready to drink now if you're pairing it with something substantial in the red meat department.

Currently in stock:  2005 Napa Merlot Sale $54.99

 

 

 

 

Wine Tasting Today

TO INQUIRE ABOUT A WINE:  gerald@weimax.com

Copyright © 1999 WEIMAX WINES & SPIRITS
Last modified: April 22, 2008