2017 L'Ecole No. 41 Merlot Columbia Valley

Community Tasting Notes (16) Avg Score: 90.1 points

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  9/7/2023 - Odedis.Wine.reviews Likes this wine: 89 Points

  Purple in color with a wide purplish rim.
  
  Light on the nose, and full bodied with medium acidity.
  
  Dry on the palate with nice complexity.
  
  Showing black currants, plums, cooked cherries, spices, light oak, licorice, dark chocolates, earth, tobacco leaf, herbs and peppercorn.
  
  Tangy finish with fine grained tannins and red chili pepper.
  
  This six year old Merlot is still drinking nicely. Good right out of the bottle and good by itself or with food.
  
  Easy drinking, Tangy and spicy. A good entry level Merlot from Columbia State.
  
  I had this vintage 3 years ago, and liked it better, but it is more complex now. Interesting stuff.
  
  I paired it with a sharp Cheddar cheese and a beautiful view.
  
  A blend of 81% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot. Aged for 18 months in Oak barrels (30% new).
  
  14.5% alcohol by volume.
  
  89 points.
  
  $30.

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  2/3/2023 - Short_Sips wrote:

  Luscious and rich with gentle tannin structure. Distinct aromatic oak qualities, toasted coconut creme brûlée. Seems to conceal the fruit a bit, but still able to pick up some bramble-y berries. Campfire wine.

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  1/20/2023 - WY Leonidas wrote: 89 Points

  Deep nearly opaque purple. Nose of herbs, licorice, black stewed fruit, toasted wood. Big body, silky smooth tannins, with a brooding black fruit and herbs, leather, a nice mineral streak. Raspberry / cassis on the finish. Very good. This needed a lot of air to really start shining. Surprisingly dark color for a Merlot. What else is in there? Or just an incredible vineyard site to get that kind of color and body from Merlot. Nice. Only knock is that this had a bit much wood influence, and the fruit was a bit tired.

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  12/22/2022 - jaydoodah Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Very smooth. No super strong fruit of note, just a good drinking wine. Paired with a cheddar and chives grilled cheese with sourdough bread.

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  7/5/2022 - snarfglk Likes this wine: 90 Points

  solid 90, great merlot

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