Noted red winemaker Joe Cafaro says merlot develops more character under stressful conditions; from his estate vineyard in Napa’s eastern hills he turned out a deeply sensuous 1998 Merlot that seduces the drinker with ripe blackberry and cherry fruit flavors, and a gorgeous, near-infinite finish.
Photo: Mitch Rice
Beringer Winemaster Ed Sbragia has homed in on the Howell Mountain’s Bancroft Ranch for merlot fruit of the highest order; the wines he crafts from the site, such as the superb 1997, are considered the epitome of Merlot’s range — in short, Sbragia makes soufflés, not doughnuts.
Photo: Jim Block
California's Merlot MastersBy Dick RosanoRevered by some, eschewed by others, California Merlot has had its share of bad reviews. Overcropped and churned out by more than a few producers intent on exploiting its easy-drinking, mass appeal, the noble varietal seemed like it would never earn the top billing enjoyed by the state's Cabernet Sauvignon. After all, turning an understudy into a diva takes a deft hand, patience and maybe just a little magic. And while starring roles for the much-maligned merlot grape have been skillfully scripted at more than a handful of California wineries, they are still the exception rather than the rule. The maturing of California Merlot has been something of a struggle. Those winemakers who weren't exploiting it were prone to give it short shrift anyway, perhaps because they didn't understand its subtleties, or weren't willing to cope with its occasional petulance.
"It's a challenge," admits Paul Hobbs of Paul Hobbs Winery. "Shatter is a major problem, and you have problems with uneven maturity of fruit within a cluster and among clusters on a single vine." Merlot is also sensitive to temperature swings and often fails to mature on the vine. In the winery, it can ferment too quickly or too slowly, resulting in flabby wines that seem devoid of flavor and texture. So why would a California producer want to make this wine? Because the best Merlots are - quite simply - breathtaking, much like the sweet mingling of voices in a duet between Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.
The grape has been used in Bordeaux for centuries, generally playing a supporting role as a blending tool in the region's famous wines. And even though more acres are planted there to merlot than any other red variety, Bordeaux's reputation is still made on cabernet sauvignon. Indeed, only in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion is merlot cast in the lead, with legendary wines like Château Pétrus based almost solely on the grape. Otherwise, it exists merely to smooth out the rougher edges of cabernet and provide a silky finish to blends that might otherwise seem too angular.
Much the same is true of merlot's role in California, where it has been used successfully as a blending grape for decades, sacrificing its identity to that of the principal grape, cabernet sauvignon.
In a move that proved to be too far ahead of the curve, Louis M. Martini Winery produced a varietally labeled Merlot in 1968, but at that time Americans were still experimenting with generic wines that lacked varietal identity. A minor grape like merlot had no chance to establish itself. The 1970s saw more experiments, as some wineries went beyond the traditional focus on Cabernet in a quixotic attempt to prove that Merlot could emerge as a true contender. "It took the determination of a few wineries like Duckhorn to show the public what Merlot had to offer," says Joe Cafaro, a noted Merlot-maker himself.
By the 1980s, the name Duckhorn had become practically synonymous with Merlot, a perception that Dan Duckhorn nurtures to this day. "When I went to the Pomerol region of Bordeaux in the late 1970s," Duckhorn says, "I experienced the subtleties of the varietal, the softness, the seductiveness. Its structure was not as dominant and bold as the Cabernet Sauvignon, and it didn't need the time to age...It seemed a wonderful thing to drink."
And while Duckhorn gravitated toward Merlot out of a personal passion, others saw an opportunity to establish a red-wine regimen for a country made up largely of abstainers and white wine drinkers.
"I think the emergence of Merlot on a large scale was due to a television show," asserts Steve Reeder, winemaker at Chateau St. Jean, referring to the November 1991 "60 Minutes" episode in which CBS's Morley Safer reported on "The French Paradox." (Based on the findings of the French medical community, viewers were told that despite a rich diet laden with fat and cholesterol, the French led longer and healthier lives than their American counterparts. Those interviewed concluded it was the country's red wine that kept the French heart from breaking prematurely.)
Americans lapped up the good news, and were ecstatic to have a prescription to drink wine. Their interest lit a fire under red wine sales, which in the months that followed Safer's report increased by 40 percent. "They were running out of their homes screaming for red wine," Reeder jokes. Today Reeder's silky, rich, exotically spiced Merlots are the focus of much of the noise among wine drinkers who know their Merlot.
Sensing a shift in the market, winegrowers couldn't get merlot planted quickly enough, and between 1990 and 2000 the variety went from under 5,000 acres under vine to nearly 50,000. In their haste, growers did not always match the grape to its ideal site, a scenario that yielded inferior fruit and, ultimately, one-dimensional wines. Lamentably, while Merlot masters such as Duckhorn and Richard Arrowood (while he was winemaker at Chateau St. Jean) toiled in the vineyards and cellars to refine the recipe for stellar Merlot, an ocean of mediocre Merlot flooded the market to satisfy the country's new-found thirst for red wine.
Used primarily as a bridge for white wine lovers to cross over to red, scores of these insipid, lifeless wines were extremely popular with the masses - and, indeed, still are - but the critics were quick to claim that they had no soul. Merlot was dubbed a "doughnut wine," because most lacked a middle, a perception that still lingers among connoisseurs.
Devoid of substance they may have been, but red wine neophytes had rejected the monster Cabernets coming out of California at the time. "It was something they could drink without ripping their faces off," Hobbs says, "after all those highly tannic, over-extracted power Cabs of the 1980s." It was a soft, friendly, fruity wine - a wine that seemed to promise medical benefits without forcing novices to endure gripping tannins or blasts of alcohol in heavily extracted wines.
Fortunately, Merlot's long-term potential would be driven not by marketing strategy, but by the settled conviction of a handful of inspired winemakers who knew they were working with a grape of classic proportions. These visionaries believed that if merlot were carefully planted, properly cultivated and harvested at its peak, it would produce wines of breed and finesse capable of competing at the highest levels.
Arrowood began tinkering with merlot at Chateau St. Jean in the 1970s, looking for the right combination of vineyard practices, clones and winemaking prescriptions to create the fabulous Merlots for which the property has since been known. (Arrowood later founded his eponymous winery in Sonoma County and made Merlot an early centerpiece of his production.) The challenge for Arrowood, and most winemakers, was to fill out the merlot flavors and give this notoriously silky varietal some heft.
Wines are often characterized by their "profile" - the impression they leave on the palate from front to middle to back. Elegant wines approach the palate delicately with fruit flavors and soft tannins. Big, robust wines open with sometimes brutish force, and the best of these mix style with power. The wines that meet in the middle, those with elegance and strength, have a quick approach, a supple middle and a lasting finish. The rap against California Merlot has been that too many lacked a middle and fell short on the finish.
The tendency to choose the wrong sites for merlot - often through carelessness - could have doomed the grape and the wine, and sabotaged the efforts of the small band of winemakers who understood the grape's nuances.
Ironically, a viticultural crisis intervened and salvaged merlot's future. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the phylloxera root louse spread through California vineyards. To save the industry, growers grafted vines onto resistant rootstock (the same process that saved the great vineyards of Europe in the 19th century). This tedious and expensive process offered winemakers and vineyardists an opportunity to rethink site selections and planting strategies, reconfiguring vineyards based on knowledge gained through research and trial and error. "Phylloxera was a blessing in disguise," says Michael Weis of Groth Winery. "It gave us the opportunity to put the correct varieties in the correct places." Merlot was among the beneficiaries of replanting, and small vineyards of the finest clones began to come into production in the early 1990s.
Like many Old World varietals, merlot seems to thrive under stressful conditions, and achieves greater complexity in such settings. "Merlot does very well on hillsides," Cafaro affirms. "The natural drainage adds concentration to the fruit." To accentuate his point, after years of sourcing grapes from others' vineyards, Cafaro purchased his own vineyard in the hills above the Silverado Trail, just south of the Stags Leap District appellation, with an eastern exposure.
The efforts of winemakers such as Cafaro notwithstanding, merlot's history as a blending grape, combined with many mismatched sites still in production, continues to haunt it, especially at the entry level wherein winemakers must turn out large case numbers without paying much attention to merlot's intricacies and idiosyncrasies.
Like pinot noir, merlot is more difficult in the vineyard than cabernet sauvignon, Reeder says. "Merlot is more sun-sensitive as well as water-sensitive," he says. This sensitivity can doom a vine but, when cared for properly, a vine can produce a wine of complexity and interest beyond what is achieved from grapes in too-fertile areas.
Change is often subtle, and even California Merlots in the $10 to $15 range have begun to benefit from the knowledge gained by patriarchs such as Reeder. The result: New standards are being established at every price point.
"A small group of wineries committed to Merlot's excellence is carrying the torch," says Mike Havens, winemaker-proprietor at Havens Wine Cellars. Indeed, throughout the 1990s, better and better Merlots began to appear. Some were diamonds in the rough, in need of only a little polishing. More importantly, they were harbingers of what merlot really had to offer.
Many of these Merlot proponents share insights at Sterling Vineyards' International Merlot Conference, a gathering of winemakers, grape growers and members of the media first held in 1998. Then, as now, Merlot was battling "a bit of a backlash," according to Sterling's winemaker Rob Hunter, and the leader of several of the first panel discussions. The first two conferences (the third was to take place this year but has been postponed until 2003) focused on how to best bring out merlot's varied characteristics in different sites and with varying clones.
Indeed, Sterling Vineyards proved the importance of site selection when it focused on single-vineyard Merlots, sourcing from Three Palms Vineyard for fruit; Sterling has made a classically styled wine from the first. Howell Mountain was also identified as a premium site for merlot. Sensing this, Beringer Winemaster Ed Sbragia researched the appellation and further refined the choice to the Bancroft Ranch, from which Beringer consistently sources grapes to make one of the finest Merlots offered in America.
Duckhorn had already cast his lot with Merlot, with stunning results. He sourced from Three Palms Vineyard as early as 1978, and then from Howell Mountain in 1989. Sandra and Bill McIver were growing merlot at Matanzas Creek in Sonoma County in the early 1970s, under the guidance of Winemaker Merry Edwards. Their image would be forever cast as Merlot superstars when, in the mid-1990s, they began producing Journey, a Merlot selling for over $100 per bottle, which was an astronomical price for any California wine at the time. Today Matanzas Creek Merlot, while not as prominent as in those heady days, is still regarded as one of the contenders in the field of serious Merlot.
Over the last decade of the 20th century, this small group of wineries was setting a new standard for California Merlot, attempting to prove its worth alongside the historic wines of Pomerol. The number of sensational Merlots inches ever higher year by year, yet even today there are few among them that stand out as monumental wines.
So what does it take to make exceptional Merlot? Factors include not only site selection but climate, soil types, clonal selection, irrigation, canopy management and harvesting practices.
"I like the results from the warmer areas of cooler sites like the Carneros," Hobbs says. His opinion is shared by Robert Keenan, who was among the first to push the argument for making Merlot from the Carneros region. In fact, the Keenan, Havens and Ravenswood Merlots tasted for this article, all from Carneros, possessed a silky, creamy texture reminiscent of great Pomerol, and were clearly the best wines for the price.
The problem often encountered with the merlot grape is that it drops its acidity quickly, as opposed to its sugar, which continues to develop; hence the wine ends up as a sweet, plummy rendering with insufficient acidity to brace and outline its flavors. To resolve this dilemma, winegrowers have learned that cool air is essential. The cooling influence gives the grapes a chance to recover from the warm days and retain the acidity that is essential for developing depth and character. A cool climate also lengthens the growing season, giving the slow-maturing merlot a chance to reach optimum maturity.
"Merlot just doesn't respond well to climate variation," notes St. Francis' Winemaker Tom Mackey. After being planted in "less than ideal sites that are far too warm," the results, in Mackey's estimation, are "merlot-lite." Sonoma's St. Francis was one of the earliest proponents of the grape, even going so far as to rip out zinfandel to plant it in the 1970s when it was merely a blending grape. St. Francis' Reserve Merlots come from three vine-yards located in a tight, three-to-four-square mile triangle around the base of the Mayacamas Mountains. The soils there are primarily alluvial, ranging from loamy to gravelly and volcanic, and each site has excellent day-to-night temperature variation, thus assuring acidity as the grapes slowly ripen.
Unlike the climate factor, the winemaker is presented with more choices when it comes to compatible soil types. "Rocky, lean and well-drained soils breed structure into the wines," says Bob Foley, winemaker at Pride Mountain Vineyards, "imparting fuller tannins and more intensity." Heavier soils may produce acceptable wines, but "the color and overall intensity will be considerably less pronounced," he says of wines that are plummy, but may lack flavor definition. This premise is in line with other winemakers' preferences for hillside plantings, where natural drainage keeps the vines digging deeper for water, stressing their systems and guaranteeing more complex flavor profiles.
The debate about site selection and soil type is linked to merlot's greatest enemy: overcropping. Where the climate is too warm and the soil too fertile, grape vines become laden with fruit, a consequence to which merlot is especially prone. Overcropping leads to a dilution of fruit flavors and overall quality, a thinning of the phenols and a loss of overall fullness. Because merlot tends to flourish in such an environment, the abundant crop almost guarantees a weak, thin, shallow "doughnut" wine.
The old adage that wine begins in the ground dictates that a great wine's foundation is laid in the vineyard. Careful site and soil selection must be followed by astute vineyard practices. Irrigation is a factor that prompts debate: Some winemakers prefer to rely solely on whatever moisture nature provides, while others want total control through man-made systems.
Daryl Groom, winemaker at Geyser Peak Winery, claims irrigation is responsible for much of the dilution in quality for which Merlot is criticized. He says the modern California tactic of drip irrigation provides more water than the grape needs, especially if a vineyard manager takes a lazy approach and does it without monitoring. "Water timing and quantity are both critical," Groom says. The winemaker must pay attention and not just rely on set schedules.
Havens takes advantage of the underlying strata of the vineyards to maximize his irrigation regimen, relying on clay soils over loam and sand to give gradual access to the water and ensure slow ripening. This system allows the grapes to mature on the vine, maximizing complexity and concentration of flavors. Others have commented that more austere soils of rock, sand and gravel would be best to force the roots to search for deeper levels to find moisture.
Because of merlot's tendency to overcrop, many viticulturists resort to "green drop," a process whereby clusters of immature grapes are cut away in mid-season. This process is sometimes combined with radical trellising and pruning to thin the canes and concentrate the flavors. The most astute growers resort to tricking nature into doing the work for them. "We have learned to prune the vines in such a way as to invite an overcrop," Foley says. "Then, following shatter in the late spring, we thin to rebalance the load on the vines."
Canopy management can be used to control the crop, but its most important role is to ensure even ripening of the fruit. Too often, due to merlot's peculiar maturation schedule, many of the bunches are riddled with unripe grapes. Spreading the canes and opening them up to sunshine and air ensures more even development of the grapes within the bunches.
While vineyard managers struggle to achieve optimally mature fruit, they must also guard against over-maturation. "Merlot has a tendency to get plummy if it is ripened too long," Cafaro says. "The extended hang time can create a lush, fruity grape with not enough acidity to give the wine backbone."
The combination of ideal climate, soil and vineyard practices will enable the fruit to mature to a rich, velvety sweetness while retaining enough acidity to produce a balanced, structured wine. "We pick the merlot at a degree higher in Brix than cabernet," Beringer's Sbragia says. "You're looking for sweet round fruit, and the delicate balance between fruit and acidity."
Once the fruit is harvested and delivered post- haste to the winery, the winemaker faces new challenges with this difficult grape.
Due to its delicate nature, merlot requires special handling in the winery. Too hot fermentation and the palate impression turns quickly to cooked flavors. Too cold and the fruit never yields the intricate aromas that it possesses. When all the factors are right, says Beringer Winemaker Laurie Hook, "You can get this wine, this texture, this spectrum of aromas and flavors that's more than just the fruit."
Many winemakers talk of cold soak and shorter macerations than they use for cabernet. True to its nature, merlot requires a kinder, gentler approach to vinification to extract the flavors and colors without damaging the delicate balance between sugar and acidity that was patiently coaxed into the fruit in the vineyard.
The temperature of the must becomes critical once fermentation kicks in. A lot of high-sugar grapes pick up on the warm autumn temperatures and their juice temperature rises quickly. Winemakers tending merlot try to keep this under control, using both the warm temperatures at the beginning for more extraction and the cooler temperatures later in the cycle to gently nurse the fermentation to completion.
Although every winemaker tweaks and tunes to achieve his or her own signature style, most agree that merlot needs lots of oxygen during fermentation to turn the soft flavors into complex flavors, "to build the structure of the wine" according to Havens. The oxygenation of the wine creates the softer feel in the mouth but - more importantly - it achieves the lush, full roundness that distinguishes great Merlot from plonk.
Getting oxygen into all wine types is accomplished by "pumping over." Some winemakers pump over using spray nozzles to maximize the mixing of the wine with air. Havens uses a less-traditional technique called micro-oxygenation in which medical oxygen is pumped into the fermenting vat, which creates longer chain phenols (which provide the color, aroma and astringency that give the wine its dimensions).
The barrel regimen is much in dispute. Some winemakers like the vanilla touch imparted by new American oak, but many winemakers believe young oak can too easily take over merlot's delicate flavors, so they prefer two- or three-year-old oak. Reeder prefers less new oak, to bring out what he calls "the pretty side," or the cherry-cola flavors that overlay the dense, concentrated black fruit. Although American oak seems prevalent in the making of California Merlot, some of the great wines are aged in French oak.
Sbragia says they use all French oak for the Beringer Howell Mountain Merlot, but it's all new oak. Duckhorn's winemaker, Mark Beringer, says "American oak can dominate merlot's nice feminine qualities while the French oak tends to integrate softly into the wine."
Ironically, when crafted as a single varietal in California, this classic Bordeaux blending grape usually depends upon another variety to fill it out. Some winemakers use cabernet sauvignon to beef up the tender, feminine flavors of merlot. Others rely on syrah for the same reason, while a few resort to cabernet franc or malbec.
With such a wide range of variables, it's a wonder anyone can get the wine right. "To me, there are no good or bad winemaking practices," Cafaro says, "only those that produce the style of wine that the winery is trying to [make]."
So, where will Merlot go? Has its magic been exhausted or is there more to plumb?
"I don't feel that Merlot will ever go away," says Beringer, who believes the high-end wines will continue to improve, while the "lower quality merlot vineyards will get replanted to syrah."
St. Jean's Reeder believes the Merlot market will become more stratified. "The low end will get lower and the high will go higher," he predicts.
Unfortunately, it is this range of quality that lumps many simple, fruity renditions with the classics of recent years. But the merlot grape's broad palette of flavors does bode well for the wine's future potential.
In many ways, the maturing of the American palate parallels the evolution of the Merlot category. Serious wine drinkers have outgrown the naive wines first foisted upon them a decade or so ago, and now expect the depth and concentration a well-made Merlot can deliver.
Cafaro believes Merlot is no longer just a niche wine. "Like all great varietals, it will continue to evolve and change," he asserts. His summary defines merlot's place in the pantheon of noble varieties - it's a grape that has the potential to fool, stimulate and tempt even the most seasoned palates. Indeed, Merlot is proving to be an understudy with remarkable range.
TASTING BAR
Weighing all the factors that must be considered, who's making California's best Merlots? Currently, only a handful of wineries are turning out Merlot on a scale to compete with the finest wines of the world - merlot-based or otherwise. At the top of their game are such wineries as Beringer, Cafaro, Chateau St. Jean, Duckhorn, Groth, Paul Hobbs, Gary Farrell, Pride Mountain and St. Francis, each of which consistently crafts Merlot of the highest quality. (And while provenance prohibits the inclusion of Washington State's Leonetti Cellar in this article, Gary Figgins may be making the most astounding Merlot that America has to offer; see "Washington Merlot" box on previous page.)
Close behind the top tier are more than a dozen or so producers who are equally committed to the varietal and whose wines are showing remarkable character and breed. Generally, top-flight Merlots are not inexpensive (with the notable exception of Carneros bottlings from Keenan, Havens and Ravenswood); one should expect to pay upward of $100 for bellwether bottlings from standard bearers such as Duckhorn and St. Jean.
Regardless of price, if you're looking for an experience that will have you talking wine at the coffee bar on Monday morning, America's Merlots have come of age.
The wines that follow were not tasted blind, since there are a variety of vintages being offered by the wineries at press time and tasting blind would have resulted in comparing the generally superior 1997s and 1999s to the more difficult, though sometimes rewarding, 1998s. My scores are based on the BuyLine 100-point scale.
Beringer, 1997 Merlot, Bancroft Ranch, Howell Mountain - $75: This is an absolutely stunning wine, with complex aromas of blackberry, black cherry, roasted nuts, cassis and a hint of mint. The flavors include all of these components in a full-bodied, tremendously well-balanced wine of power and depth with an amazingly long finish. This wine is at the top of its class and possibly one of the best Merlots ever made in America. Score: 96
Cafaro Cellars, 1998 Merlot, Napa Valley - $37: Sensuous aromas of coffee, toast and cherry. Juicy, supple flavors of blackberry and cherry fruit with additional notes of anise and cedar. Fabulously deep and beautifully textured with a lasting finish. Score: 93
Chateau St. Jean, 1997 Merlot, Reserve, Sonoma County - $90: Aromas of toasty oak, black cherry, mocha, raspberry, cassis and cedar overlaid by a soft, silky note of cigar box. Dense, chewy palate impression featuring flavors of blackberry, cherry, sweet oak, leather and cocoa bean. Score: 93
Dry Creek Vineyard, 1997 Merlot, Reserve, Dry Creek Valley - $35: Opens with heady aromas of toffee, coffee and cocoa followed by rich, plummy flavors of bright cherry, blackberry and a kiss of cedar. Score: 91
Duckhorn Vineyards, 1999 Merlot, Estate Grown, Napa Valley - $80: Scents of roasted coffee beans mixed with blackberry, plum, sweet oak and a touch of vanilla. Loads of rich, upfront flavors of cherry and blackberry accented by sweet tobacco, vanilla and chocolate nuances. Ripe tannins are evenly distributed and sweeten the finish. An exquisite wine with great promise for future maturation. Score: 94
Flora Springs 1999 Merlot, Estate, Napa Valley - $24: Bouquet of mint, eucalyptus and bright cherry with secondary scents of herbs, cola and cedar. Layers of black cherry and strawberry flavors deliver a nicely tart, nicely rounded mouthful. Lighter than many of its peers, but still very appealing. Score: 89
Gary Farrell, 1999 Merlot, Hillside Vineyard Selection, Sonoma County - $29: A robust, earthy wine with scents of crisp cranberry fruit meshed with leather, cedar, toast and oak. Flavors of black currant, blackberry and black cherry mingle with dark chocolate notes. A layered, dense, chewy wine. Score: 93
Geyser Peak, 1998 Merlot, Reserve, Alexander Valley - $40: A smoky, toasty, exotically scented wine with scents of coffee, chocolate and roasted nuts. Smooth, rich, luscious flavors of cherry and blackberry rounded out by smooth tannins, toasty oak and hint of black cocoa. Score: 92
Groth, 1998 Merlot, Napa Valley - $40: Astoundingly pure aromas of black cherry, blackberry, cedar and oak. Flavor characteristics mirror the bouquet, displaying great concentration; vanilla and sweet oak notes soften the palate impression of this beautifully balanced, superbly crafted wine. Worth twice the price. Score: 94
Havens, 1998 Merlot, Reserve, Napa/Carneros - $32: Sweet scents of oak and cherry accented with whiffs of tar and lead pencil. Silky smooth, rich, creamy flavors of black cherry and light chocolate displaying great balance and a rich, smooth finish. Score: 90
Keenan, 1999 Merlot, Carneros/Napa Valley - $24: Factoring in score minus price, this wine edges out another Carneros Merlot for best value. Dense, concentrated cherry, blackberry and currant aromas are punctuated by scents of black pepper and lead pencil. The supple textures embrace a solid core of red fruit, and only slightly disguise the explosively fruity flavors of blackberry and black cherry, with the Keenan signature hint of mineral. Score: 94
(The Keenan Napa Valley Merlot is also spectacular, but must take a back seat to the Carneros bottling.)
Matanzas Creek, 1999 Merlot, Sonoma County - $63. Complex scents of tobacco, leather, earth, herbs, cherry and light smoke. Smooth, deep, delicious flavors of cherry and black cherry, with a note of firm tannins on the finish. Score: 88
Pahlmeyer, 1999 Merlot, Napa Valley - $80: Perfumed nose of violets and blackberry. Chewy texture with refined, supple flavors of cherry and strawberry. Soft, deftly crafted finish. One of the most elegant wines tasted. Score: 89
Paul Hobbs, 1999 Merlot, Michael Black Vineyard, Napa Valley - $75: A fragrant touch of lead pencil laces through scents of blackberry, black cherry and vanilla. The fruit resonates on the delicately balanced palate. Score: 92
Pride Mountain Vineyards, 1999 Merlot, Napa/Sonoma - $53: Cranberry, black cherry nose; rich in texture, full in body. Flavors of cranberry and black cherry with sweet tannins, tantalizing acids, soft oak notes and cassis. A power-fully structured wine with a real future. Score: 93
Ravenswood, 1999 Merlot, Sangiacomo Vineyard, Sonoma Valley/Carneros - $26: Sensuous nose of cedar, chocolate, licorice, smoke and cranberry. Smooth, creamy texture with flavors of cranberry and black cherry imbued with subtle hints of cigar smoke, toast, vanilla and brown spice. Well-integrated and spectacularly balanced. Score: 93
Rutherford Hill, 1999 Merlot, Napa Valley - $65: Aromas of black cherry, blackberry and plum with sweet, creamy vanilla accents. Flavors of black cherry and vanilla with hints of cedar and toasted oak. A nicely structured wine that is slow to open, but rewarding for those patient enough to wait. Score: 90
St. Francis, 1997 Merlot, Estate Reserve, Sonoma Valley - $45: Fresh, vibrant, aromas of Bing cherry and blueberry. Complex flavor profile of coffee, cedar, brown spice, leather, dried cranberry and cherry. Seductive but a bit reserved. Score: 91
St. Francis, 1998 Merlot, Reserve, Behler Vineyard, Sonoma Valley - $45: Enticing aromas of cedar, tobacco, blackberry, licorice and black currant, dominated by a distinct cherry accent that resonates nicely on the palate. The tannins are soft but not quite resolved. This Merlot still needs time to show off all it has to offer. Score: 91
St. Francis, 1997 Merlot, Reserve, Nuns Canyon, Sonoma Valley - $50: Intoxicatingly perfumed bouquet with prime aromas of dark cherry and chocolate highlighted by scents of sweet herbs and violets. Soft and forward with rich flavors of cherry, chocolate and herbs. A touch of dry raspberry emerges on the opulent finish. A spectacular wine. Score: 95
St. Francis, 1997 Merlot, Reserve, Sonoma Valley - $45: An opening salvo that includes fresh, vibrant scents of Bing cherry and blueberry. Reticent flavors of brown spice, leather, dried cranberry and cherry are seductive, but still a bit reserved. Score: 89
Sterling, 1999 Merlot, Three Palms Vineyard, Napa Valley - $58: Earthy whiffs of coffee, mocha and oak wrap around the core of raspberry-blackberry scents. Nicely balanced with tart acidity and vibrant fruit flavors of raspberry, cherry and blackberry. Robust and hearty with a soft, lingering finish. Score: 87
Sterling, 1997 Merlot, Reserve, Napa Valley - $70: Powerful aromas of blackberry, black cherry and fudge with nuances of tea and leather. Chewy flavors of blackberry and plum with hints of black pepper and mocha. Dusty tannins in the lingering close. Score: 90 - (August/September 2001 BuyLine)
Contributing Editor Dick Rosano is a Washington, D.C.-based wine writer and the author of Wine Heritage: The Story of Italian-American Vintners.
Merlot in May
Since the second Sterling International Merlot Conference in 2000, a consumer-oriented tasting spurred by the popularity of the varietal has been hosted by Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga. Dubbed "Merlot in May," the winery invites more than 100 Merlot producers from a number of countries to pour their wines for the public.
For information on next year's event, visit www.sterlingvineyards.com.
