2018 Merryvale Merlot Coombsville

94% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaking

Coombsville Merlot is one of our favorites—the cooler AVA produces food friendly, high acid wines in the old Napa style. The fruit was hand-picked and handsorted with each vineyard fermented separately. Fermentation was done at a warm temperatures and the time in tank was approximately 14 days; the wines underwent malolactic fermentation in barrel after that. Total time in French oak barrels was 20 months and the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. We added a bit of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the cellar to round out the blend

Tasting Notes

Fresh and young while soft and elegant, our Coombsville Merlot expresses the best characteristics of a fantastic vintage. A long, even growing season in the cooler Coombsville region produced fruit with an amazing balance of concentration and natural acidity. The wine is aromatically complex, evolving in the glass with notes of plums, blueberries, and wet earth. A true Merlot, the wine is soft on the palate, pleasing with fine tannin and supple structure. Great with food or on its own, this wine will gratify over the next 10+ years.