External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.7 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 7 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Margaux Bro on 12/29/2021: Not sure if there is some bottle variation, but this particular bottle was just super tired. I figured it would be in a nice spot because I've had plenty of mid 90s napa merlots that are absolutely beautiful. Sadly, this was not one. NR (612 views) | | | Tasted by sung251 on 12/24/2021 & rated 89 points: A bit disappointing. All the pieces were there but the whole experience came off as one dimensional. Simple plush fruit with tons of cedar and oak notes. Very smooth tannins with enough acidity to balance out the fruit. As you let it sit the oak notes dominate the experience and a bitter dark chocolate note emerges. Personally, I think the wine would've had better balance if the oak usage wasn't so heavy handed. Some of the people at the tasting seems to have enjoyed it but this bottle just didn't do it for me. Too oaky, too boring. (599 views) | | | Tasted by mouton45 on 1/9/2019 & rated 93 points: Great showing last night at my wine group's dinner. When I bought the 1996, I was stunned that the fill was still mid-neck. When I double-decanted about 3 hours before the dinner, it threw very little sediment. This wine went up against a 1978 Ducru, a 1990 Ferraton Ermitage Les Miaux and 1998 Giacosa Rabaja barbaresco, and more than held its own. A favorite among several members of the group. The Pride still tasted young, especially for a 22-year-old Cali merlot. It is 96% merlot and 4% cab - and to my taste, was more like a older cab. Go figure. A couple guys guessed correctly it was from the mid-90s (double blind format), but thought too it was a cab. I can say definitively that the community drink dates on CT are way off on this wine. Will try another bottle maybe around the end of this year and see what that's like. All in all, though, a delightful surprise due mainly to its age. The late Jim Pride wrote: "The length of the ripening season contributed to the extraordinary character of the 1996 wines. The Merlot was harvested in mid-October at full fruit development and the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest extended into mid-November. Full ripe rich aromas and textures are married with the sweet spice of the finest French oak barrels. The fine balance and extraordinarily dark ruby hue assure that our Merlot will continue to develop in the bottle for years to come." He must be thinking now, "I told you so." (1487 views) | | | Tasted by Loren Sonkin on 6/23/2011 & rated 88 points: Pride Dinner (Fire Food and Drink, Cleveland Ohio): I wondered if this would be too old. This came from my cellars as an extra. I don't think I would go too much longer with the wine but it was not over the hill. There is still cherry fruit although not as vibrant as the 07. Some forest floor type notes and also some dried fruit qualities. A lot of layering. Nice balance. I am sure on its own at dinner, it would show better as this was a tough place to drink it. Still, I found it very nice and another glimpse that these wines (at least as made in 96) can age. Sixteen years from vintage and just starting it path down IMO. (5661 views) | | | Tasted by AllRed on 9/23/2006 & rated 92 points: Taken to dinner with friends at the Anvil Club. Decanted only for sediment, which was a mistake because it needed some time in the glass to open up. Notes of smoke, herbs, leather and roasted meat. Sweet chocolate and berries on the palate, beautifully balanced. Paired well with the veal chop. (5545 views) | | | Tasted by GlenD on 2/11/2006 & rated 93 points: Older nose, lightly bricked color. Mature reddish fruits. Still concentrated, lenghty. Improved with air. A touch of pepper and acid. No doubt in my mind that these can age. 95% Merlot, 5% cab. 13.0% alc (5602 views) | | | Tasted by KenK on 2/11/2006 & rated 95 points: Bob Foley Wine Tasting Results (My Home): Tasted Blind
Classy cabernet-like nose with earth, toast, black cherry, very complete and satisfying with a touch of older aromas
A very nice palate coating viscosity that features tobacco, dry cherry and toast. Smooth, seamless feel to the wine with a soft, but long finish of dark chockolate. A yummy wine, that has me very excitied regarding the potential ageability of Pride wines. (7754 views) |
| Pride Mountain Vineyards Producer 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 |
|
