2013 Reininger Merlot

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Price Drop (+Summer Block Party ANNOUNCEMENT), 7/18/2018

  (Reininger Merlot Walla Walla Valley) Summer Block Party ANNOUNCEMENT: Tickets are now on sale for our warehouse complex’s 3rd annual Block Party: Sunday August 12, 12-6pm. Advance tickets are $35; day-of tix are $45. The package includes: * One ticket/wine glass to taste at all 11 booze purveyors: Den Hoed, Full Pull, Kerloo, Latta, Nine Hats, Patterson, Rotie, Sleight of Hand, Structure, Waters, and Schooner Exact Brewing. * One coupon book to purchase wines at all 10 wineries and 1 brewery. Expires 12/31/2018. * $5 Uber credit (for rides from the Block Party). There will also be live music and plenty of food options. Should be a fun summer afternoon. One final note: Because of the scope and complexity of the event, we will not be able to accommodate any wine pickups on the 12th. Thank you for understanding. ---- Hello friends. We interrupt your regularly-scheduled offers for an unexpected treat—and with very good reason. Today, we have excellent pricing today (down from a release price of $45) on a wine whose previous vintages have been well-loved by our list-members: a Walla Walla Valley wine now five years past vintage and drinking beautifully.It would be easy to assume—given this pricing —that this bottle is from Reininger’s value label, Helix, which sources from vineyards across the greater Columbia Valley. It’s not. This is from the top-tier Reininger line, which is restricted to vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley. I think we all know by now the challenges Merlot has faced in a post-Sideways world, but its inherent quality remains (especially in Washington, where it often marries the robust structure of Cabernet to silky coffee-inflected red fruit), and the tides of fashion allow for crazy deals like this one, where we have a wine that very much drinks like a polished $40-$50 bottling but that we’re accessing for considerably less. Reininger’s 2013 Merlot was sourced from the king and queen of the Walla Walla Valley, Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills, along with XL, a 47 acre vineyard that’s part of the SeVein project (also home to L’Ecole’s Ferguson Vineyard). These sites are all known for building beautiful Bordeaux varietals, so it’s a treat to taste how Chuck Reininger expresses these stalwart sites through the terroir-prism of noble Merlot. It’s an even more rare treat to taste how Chuck Reininger expresses Walla Walla Valley Merlot five years past vintage. 2013 was a hot year—a cool, wet spring followed by a summer full of relentless heat. However, there was a break for winemakers come fall. According to Chuck, “The most important episode in my mind occurred the beginning of September—a reprieve from the heat, a blessing for sure, allowing our Merlot to maintain its acidity and balance. This Merlot is one fine example of how Mother Nature manages to bring forth equanimity out of the chaos…typical Walla Walla.” This additional acidity and balance have paid off—showing a bottle whose structure has begun to integrate, with plenty of time left ahead. This sees 4% Cabernet in the mix, and was raised entirely in barrel, 40% new. The alcohol comes in at 14.1%, and it all begins with an expressive nose combining cherries, cassis, sweet spice, fennel, and cacao. Tertiary notes are starting to emerge—evoking foraged morels and the edge of the woods where they are found. It’s classic Walla Walla Merlot with time on its side. The palate mirrors—opening with fruit, but quickly moving through spice, savory notes, earth, and finally, almonds and mocha. The acid, tamed; the tannins, elegant. This very much drinks like a wine with years left in the tank, but it’s pretty damn delicious right this very second. Overall, it’s impeccably true to Chuck’s style—polished, classy winemaking. The texture alone makes it clear that a steady, accomplished hand is at work here. Chuck has been working with the beautiful vineyards of Walla Walla for many years, and it shows.