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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 87.4 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 25 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Buff Tannen, USXFel Presidente on 4/3/2023: Agree with previous reviewer - no trace of age
Red cherry, London broil of my youth
No sprawling fireworks, but beautifully composed (328 views) | | | Tasted by ericmca on 10/3/2022 & rated 94 points: Big and well balanced. Not a trace of age. Bright rim. Long smooth palate. (472 views) | | | Tasted by FLI on 5/20/2015 & rated 89 points: Much improved with a few more years on it. Fruit was surprisingly forward for a merlot. Nice dusty quality. Tannins smoothed out. Very enjoyable. Good QPR. (2538 views) | | | Tasted by gavinesq on 7/11/2014 & rated 88 points: If you have any of this, hurry up and drink it. The fruit is dropping out. It's still drinkable but it's much better with food. By itself it's pretty dry and tannic but the tannins are softened up pretty well. The fruit is dusty and muted, plums and dark cherries.
With a grilled ribeye steak, it opens up nicely and the structure of the wine is revealed along with the fruit, which blossoms as well.
But hurry up. (2917 views) | | | Tasted by subir on 2/11/2014 & rated 88 points: Nice fruity merlot. (3016 views) | | | Tasted by Frabjous on 2/17/2012: Let breathe in the bottle for several hours. First pour was a bit tight, so aerated into the decanter.
Lovely bright ruby red across the glass with lots of legs all around. Quite a bit of sediment on the screen with a lot still in the bottle.
Nice wine with good fruits and a nice structure.
90
Drink or Hold (2571 views) | | | Tasted by JC Cab on 12/11/2011 & rated 89 points: Dark garnet color. Black cherry, blackberry and spice box nose. Tannins still present with balancing acidity. Dark berry and light vanilla on the medium finish. Great value ratio. (2628 views) | | | Tasted by Kirky on 8/31/2011 & rated 85 points: Way over oaked!! (3603 views) | | | Tasted by wirelesswine on 7/23/2010 & rated 87 points: Found the oak a bit overbearing this time - I like oak, but this seemed out of balance. Otherwise some definite tasty aspects to the wine, but definitely lacking something to really differentiate it. For $15 I would be all over this, but not for $36. (3922 views) | | | Tasted by ejca on 5/31/2010: pretty good, nothing special. (3607 views) | | | Tasted by afitzhugh on 3/25/2010 & rated 84 points: Terribly boring, felt fairly flat and uninteresting. Not offensive, just not much interesting either. (3377 views) | | | Tasted by FLI on 2/23/2010 & rated 87 points: Drank this too soon - still fairly tannic. My hope is that in a couple years it will settle down. A very honest merlot - subtle fruit, rich and smooth. This wine will never be a "wow", however. (3318 views) | | | Tasted by edkirwin on 2/5/2010 & rated 88 points: Decent fruit (cherry and a bit of blackberry), with a hint of oak on the finish. A bit lacking in the body though -- agree that at this price point, I would've expected a bit more. I'll give it some time in the cellar and see how it does. (2817 views) | | | Tasted by wirelesswine on 1/31/2010 & rated 88 points: Solid merlot, but from a QPR perspective, a bit disappointing. Fruit was clean, oak treatment pleasant, but lacking concentration, depth, and complexity that I would expect at this price. (2829 views) | | | Tasted by redrules on 1/15/2010 & rated 84 points: Nice nuances, but lacks the power of Pine Ridge Wines that I have come to love and respect. Needs more body. (1860 views) |
| Pine Ridge Vineyards Producer website2007 Pine Ridge Vineyards Merlot Napa ValleyFrom Winery Website:
Though the appellation on the label has changed to Napa Valley, you'll find this wine to be the same Carneros Merlot you've enjoyed for years.
HARVEST AND WINEMAKING: The 2007 vintage had many ups and downs, with an early, cool start and several heat waves throughout the growing season resulting in smaller bunches of small, intensely flavored berries harvested in early October. The grapes were sorted with an intensive triple selection process before crushing and macerated on the skins an average of 23 days. The wine was aged in 25% new French oak for 13 months before being bottled in August 2009.
TASTING NOTES: The 2007 Merlot offers a world of complexity, waiting beneath the youthful tannins and bright acidity that make this one of our more robust bottlings. The nose abounds with primary notes of dark plum, dried cherry and cola with hints of warm spice and vanilla. The structured palate opens with layers of fresh Bing cherry, blackberry preserves and anise flavors surrounded by velvety tannins and evolving into darker notes of espresso and toffee in the tapering finish.
FOOD PAIRING: With the rounded weight this wine currently boasts, perfect pairings will need an equal amount of richness and flavor, like chicken breasts or portobello mushrooms stuffed with cheese, ribeye or flank steaks and braises. As time softens the tannins and opens the fruit, try it with more subtle dishes like papardelle with sausage ragú and hard cheeses.
This wine is only available through Pine Ridge Vineyards.
Suggested retail price: $45MerlotMerlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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