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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 90.5 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 90 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by libero on 5/12/2024 & rated 92 points: A VELVET MERLOT FROM CALIFORNIA. (205 views) | | | Tasted by Francophile1 on 4/13/2024 & rated 89 points: The best wine we could find at our resort in St. Kitts. The options were very limited. Consistent vintage after vintage and easy to drink. (489 views) | | | Tasted by RichardP on 3/30/2024 & rated 90 points: Plum and pen ink on the nose. On the palate, plum, black cherry, and blackberry, with vanilla oak and light spices on the medium finish, with light tannins and moderate acidity. This was an average value at about $50. (498 views) | | | Tasted by bobadopolis on 3/7/2024 & rated 92 points: Fantastic day 1, even better days 2 and 3. Exceptional value at this stage of maturity. (588 views) | | | Tasted by Condrieu82 on 2/13/2024 & rated 87 points: Light on its feet, with some alcohol notes and raspberries/blueberries on the palate. Some fruits on the nose as well, while the ending is medium-short. Decent wine, certainly expensive QPR. Fell a bit flat and soulless. (648 views) | | | Tasted by Lammas21 on 12/16/2023 & rated 92 points: Drank with a friend - sumptuous, dark juicy bramble fruit. Plenty of power and body but also some finesse. (956 views) | | | Tasted by Mfg92 on 12/2/2023 & rated 92 points: Velvety tannins. Low acidity. Smooth to drink. Floral nose, earthy taste. (868 views) | | | Tasted by Rckapers on 11/24/2023: Thanksgiving (776 views) | | | Tasted by Acove on 11/18/2023 & rated 91 points: 30min double decant. Medium ruby/purple with a hint of fading. On the nose lots of primary black fruits like black cherry, blackberry, cassis, lots of oak as well, vanilla, etc. Modern napa no doubt. The palate was much more balanced than I remember the last time I had this wine, which is why my score bumped up. I remembered it as being super oaky/chocolatey with a heavy body and little balance/structure. Today it was more medium bodied with some good acid and tannin that helped balance the loads of primary fruit. Much more enjoyable to drink than I remember. Still wasn't a particularly interesting wine, but was not disappointed this time. Probably can wait a few more years to drink I'd say drink 2025-2030. (782 views) | | | Tasted by Cellar3 on 9/4/2023 & rated 88 points: the cork left a bit of a bitter flavour on the wine. like the cork was too green or something. (1066 views) | | | Tasted by Barolo Freak on 8/28/2023 & rated 88 points: I find Duckhorn Merlot to be one of Napa Valley's more consistent wines. The 2018 is no exception. I decanted and strained, there was only a bit of sediment in the bottle. The 2018 is a bit young. I would suggest holding for another five years until the tannin's wear off. There is a generous amount of fruit waiting to emerge. Very tempting now, but patience will be rewarded. Is it worth $43 a bottle? Yes Ma'am. (935 views) | | | Tasted by Condrieu82 on 7/3/2023 & rated 90 points: Nose of plums and cocoa, some oak. Cedar on the palate is immediate, with medium acidity and lots of plums and blackberries, with some herbal notes, tobacco, grippy tannins, medium-long ending with some bitter licorice root notes. An always reliable pour. (1073 views) | | | Tasted by Acove on 3/28/2023 & rated 91 points: Nose of chocolate covered cherries, black cherry, baking spice, cocoa. Palate was pretty full bodied with dark red fruits and lots of oak. Not much tannin to speak of but decent acid. Definitely mouth filling and decadent, a crowd pleaser, but missing a bit of the pure red fruited-elegance I remember from the '17. Meh QPR. Can probably use another 1-2 years in the bottle or a healthy decant. (1689 views) | | | Tasted by Rbhan12 on 3/28/2023 & rated 91 points: Lovely wine. Ripe nose underpinned by some oak. Dark fruits, black cherry, not quite cassis but straddling that line. Palate has nice consistency and full body. Has some decent earthy notes as well. Good acidity and supple tannins. Little hint of pepper to me. Finish is red cherry and moderate length.
I called this Syrah blind because of its ripeness, lack of tannins, and peppery character. Once revealed it was so obviously merlot (isn't that always the case!).
Drinking well now, has plenty of baby fat that will shed over the course of 5 years or so. 91 range. (1624 views) | | | Tasted by NPBWineGuy on 3/24/2023 & rated 90 points: This is consistently good wine, especially for the price. (1152 views) | | | Tasted by tob100 on 2/3/2023 & rated 96 points: Tasted up against the Pahlmeyer Merlot 2017
Duckhorn merlot blend: 80%-85& merlot & rest is cabernet.
Pahlmeyer merlot: 100% merlot
Decanted for 1 hour and after that I poured it back in the bottle - so double decanted if you want.
The nose:
Fruity with blackcurrant, blackberry, blueberry. Secondary I've got oak, vanilla, mushrooms. Somehow, I get buttermilk
The palate:
Fruity with the same notes from the nose. Oaky feeling, mushrooms big time, a little chocolate. More complex and less fruity then pahlmeyer. Less alcohol feeling than pahlmeyer
To comparer each other:
Pahlmeyer = dark mature fruit, sugary, acidity, oaky. Some purple flowers, more alcohol feeling
Duckhorn: dark dried fruit, complex, mushroom, oak, tobacco/coffee.
Considered the proce tags and what the wines shows on this stage, i'm more excited for Duckhorn, so...
Duckhorn =96 points
Pahlmeyer = 93 points (1607 views) | | | Tasted by Sp@rk on 1/27/2023 & rated 90 points: Nicely balanced and easy to drink. (1387 views) | | | Tasted by Tgrzybowski on 12/24/2022 & rated 94 points: First time sharing a 3 liter bottle. Other than the difficulty getting the wax off to get to the cork it was a great way to celebrate Christmas Eve with the extended Family. Very easy drinking and was enjoyed by everyone (1148 views) | | | Tasted by Marshmallowman on 12/18/2022 & rated 91 points: Black currant fruit forward in a good place right now. (1296 views) | | | Tasted by Kerosene on 11/24/2022 & rated 93 points: My first Jeroboam, purchased for a Thanksgiving family dinner. Tough to safely cut through the wax seal to get to the extra-large cork, for which I needed a waiters corkscrew as it was too wide for a Rabbit.
The first glasses tasted very similar to those from decanters after a few hours. Very rich and clearly refined, but not too juicy, with perfectly integrated tannins, on par with some of the better Bordeaux's I've enjoyed. A fantastic special celebration bottle! (1404 views) | | | Tasted by Gary1961 on 10/7/2022: Wine Spectator 89 pts. (1439 views) | | | Tasted by mats13 on 9/7/2022 & rated 92 points: Solid offering, perhaps not the best qpr. (1739 views) | | | Tasted by bitdrerik on 5/10/2022 & rated 88 points: Duckhorn smakk á vegum bandaríska sendiráđsins (Sólvallagata 14): Ég var ekkert sérstaklega hrifinn af ţessu víni. Mjög sérkennalaust. Ekkert viđ ţađ ađ athuga í sjálfu sér en bara ekki spennandi. (2286 views) | | | Tasted by SH Wu on 3/20/2022 & rated 85 points: Smooth tannins with a well-defined acidity. I was surprised how muted the fruit was on this one. The dark fruits were there, but definitely not as prominent as I expected.
Drank with a Chipotle chicken bowl. It was very enjoyable. (2737 views) | | | Tasted by bobadopolis on 3/16/2022 & rated 92 points: Sipped on this over a few nights, and really quite spectacular was the final glass, which was probably night 4. I would think the prime drinking window would be somewhere around 2027-2035 if stored properly. I have a lot of these, but will wait at least a year before revisiting. Next bottle 2023+ (2153 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Duckhorn Vineyards Producer website
Decoy Wines websiteMerlotMerlot 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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