2016 La Jota Merlot W.S. Keyes Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 93.2 points

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  1/14/2023 - Indywinefan Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Wonderful wine. I really enjoyed it when I visited Napa in 2020. It has a wonderful nose of plum and herbs. I wish I would have bought more.

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  11/26/2022 - Carib Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Right now this wine seems to be "in a weird place", "a tricky bend on the road" etc. It was delicious. Very tart, cherry and blue fruits with a hint of pine needles, but with little structure behind it: thin and sleepy. I didn't recognize the wine that Jeb Dunnuck reviewed as "powerful, concentrated and layered", scoring 99. It was perhaps because I started from that review (and my tastes line up with Dunnuck's) that this seemed such a disappointment. Not ready. Time will tell.

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  2/28/2021 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Not sure what to make of this??? Tasted at the winery back in Sept '20....it was easily one of the wines of the entire trip. This bottle? Popped into the decanter and enjoyed over 2 hours. The color is striking, regal silky and light reflective....it shimmers in the glass. Taste? Seems a bit thin in the mouth and again seems best in the first hour or two it's open. Velvety red fruit and very gentle, almost muted spice. By hour 3, there's some tart cherry that emerges. The finish is nice but still I think I would have given and did give this wine +3 points more 6 months ago.....a phase? The finished product? A decant misfire? I just don't know.........

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  8/30/2020 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 96 Points

  Beautiful tasting at Spire today with Will.....wonderful Mt. Brave, La Jota and Hickinbotham wines, but the star of the day for our party was this '16 Keyes Merlot......rich, deep, dark fruit on top of the great floral/perfumed nose. It is the richest merlot I've ever had. There is a beautiful balance of fruit, acidity and tannin. This is built for the long haul.....think 30-40 years. Just a powerful and beautiful wine....what a combination.

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  3/24/2020 - msuwine wrote: 92 Points

  This concentrated and grippy Merlot needs a good 2-3 years of bottle age, since it's currently far less enjoyable than the 2014 or 2015 were at the four-year mark. The 2016 has a dense core of fruit and tannin, so there's hope it can unwind and blossom - but, as George Harrison used to sing, it's going to take time, a whole lot of precious time...
  
  Dark purple in color and full in body, the wine offers aromas of graphite, new leather, raspberry stems, and pine needles. The flavors are thick, savory, and bitter, with notes of espresso, boysenberry, cooked bay leaf, and tapenade, with a dry finish dominated by tannin. (AG said this was "polished" with a certain "silkiness"... I disagree strongly with AG.) Blend of 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Sauvignon. 15.1% alcohol. Decant 2-3 hours. A little better on second day, with a more floral and integrated profile, but still an astringent finish. 92+ for now, with upside in 2022 or later.
  
  This wine left me with a similar impression to the 2016 Lokoya Howell Mountain I tried a few weeks ago - bursting with potential, but nowhere near formed yet. Although the Keyes Merlot tilts Old World, it's been one of my favorite CA Merlots over the past few years. That said, the 2016 is (very much) a work in progress. Wait on this one.

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