2022 Merlot [clone 181]

Yin. Meet Yang. This utterly effusive wine is a supernova of pure terpene expression with bright red fruit, violets and notes of toasted spices. It’s flavor complexity will go down as something of legend on account of how block 17 of our clone 181 Merlot handled, and even seemed to enjoy the warmth of this vintage. Rather than becoming overly reductive or overripe, the grapes maintained incredible balance with the structural components of both acid and tannin provided a surprising freshness that Marc has underscored with a little hit (3 percent to be exact) of Cabernet Franc. Americans don’t usually take to the notion of aging Merlot, but as beautiful as this bottle is now, it’ll be happy for several years in the cellar. 

Clone:  1, 3, 181, and 332

Aging:  100% French oak, 70% new, for 20 months.