TN: 2014 Seven Hills Winery Merlot Columbia Valley (USA, Washington, Columbia Valley)

  • 2014 Seven Hills Winery Merlot Columbia Valley - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (11/7/2017)
    Best of the 3 bottles. Nice minerality along with cherry, plum, spices and floral notes. Good use of oak and very balanced. Drink now or hold for a few years. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Nice note, John. Glad to see a Seven Hills TN. I like the QPR on this bottling at around $20.

Was there considerable variation in the three you tasted, or were they at different times?

I think Seven Hills could see a little more love here. Richard Holmes from Ciel du Cheval said once to me he thought Seven Hills did one of the finer expressions of their vineyard in his opinion. And that’s some elite company as far as Washington wine is concerned, or Oregon, if you consider their Estate vineyard is technically in Oregon isn’t it?

[quoteNice note, John. Glad to see a Seven Hills TN. I like the QPR on this bottling at around $20.

Was there considerable variation in the three you tasted, or were they at different times?][/quote]
The first bottle on opening was an oak/vanilla mess but mellowed out. Just finishing bottle 3 tonight and really balanced overall. Still see these aging for a while.

We sell it, but I will agree with Scott on a piece of his point…Washington Merlot needs more play. It’s maybe the most under-appreciated varietal/region combo in wine…only Bolgheri and Pomerol make as consistently good Merlot and theirs are far more expensive.

The old adage in Washington, people come for the cab but stay for the merlot…

Merlot is what Washington does best, forget Cab and Syrah…

I had the 13 version of this In January, $21 or so at Total Wine. While there was a slight glossiness, it had some real character and verve, and a great reminder of how good WA Merlot can be. I would take it every time over a random right bank wine that has a shelf tag of a 90-93 point review - At this price point, the Bordeaux versions are almost always overoaked and have little character to speak of. Though I do find some good values in Fronsac from time to time.

Seven Hills was one of my first entrees to WA wines back in the late 80s/early 90s. They aged magnificently as I recall. Their most expensive bottling was around 20, and I think I would wait 10-15 years and they were singing. I have not had them in a while (their prices went up, and there is so much other wine around), but as others said, glad to see them getting some appreciation. We do love their Rose – it is our favorite each year these days. And we regularly stop in their tasting room when we are in Walla Walla. May have to start trying them more seriously again…