2016 La Jota Merlot

Community Tasting Notes (30) Avg Score: 93.1 points

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  12/29/2023 - davidandrose Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Right out of the bottle this is screaming bright black and blue fruit. Its tight and tannic and seems more than its 14.9% posted alcohol.
  
  Decanted half the bottle. 3 hrs later blue fruit dominates the nose but its not NEARLY as in-your-face as straight from the bottle earlier. Now see fine grained tannins and crushed stone emerging from behind the dark fruit and tannins that are loosening up to begin coating the front/mod palate.
  
  As enjoyable as it is today for those who like big, bold, New World mountain top fruit, this still has a VERY LONG runway to hit its stride. A firm 92-3 today, i can see 95+ in the crystal ball.
  
  UPDATE: five hours after opening there's little difference from what I saw the three hour mark; There's a lot of room to evolve here. While I'm fortunate enough to have several more bottles I don't wanna touch this again till 2025, and can see my remaining bottles last well beyond 2030. We love our mountain Merlots and this may be as rich as Ive found yet.

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  12/24/2023 - RTPorter Likes this wine: 94 Points

  PnP. We served this after dinner and before dessert. Just really lush and smooth. Tobacco on the nose and then dark herbs. Dark garnet in color. Everyone really enjoyed this.

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  9/6/2023 - MJP Hou TX Likes this wine: 93 Points

  PNP and splash decant. Half bottle was consumed over a few hours and the rest returned to the bottle for a revisit on day two. My last bottle was in 21 and there has been integration but like most mountain fruit the evolution is slow. Plenty of freshness and energy but the oak is still front and center.
  
  This is in a great spot for most palates but I'm going to hold out till 2026 for further development.
  
  93

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  4/8/2023 - davidandrose Likes this wine:

  After an hour slow ox this is watered down and disjointed vs prior bottles I've enjoyed. Assume this to be bottle variation or the need to decant as ive done w prior bottles, and will now do for comparison as the evening progresses.
  
  Decanting did add some weight, but given perception of bottle variation I won't assign a rating

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  2/24/2023 - srwatters Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Love this Howell Mountain Merlot just a bit on the younger side as is this 2016 vintage in early 2023. Extremely well balanced and luscious without being flabby. Bright ripe black fruit with just enough oak and highly polished tannin. This is an outstanding wine.

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