TN: 1993 Ravenswood Merlot Sonoma County (USA, California, Sonoma County)

• 1993 Ravenswood Merlot Sonoma County - USA, California, Sonoma County (11/25/2019)
  Acquired via Joel Peterson’s offer. I had modest expectations for this wine, a 26-year-old appellation wine. This over-delivered, to say the least.
  Stood up a bit more than 24 hours. Opened with Ah-So around noon (for service around 6 PM). Even with an Ah-So, the cork fell apart, though only a small amount remained in the bottle, and didn’t affect our enjoyment of it. Slow-aerated after a small sample. Rich cherry, some tobacco and menthol. A generous finish. Overall impression is that it’s a distinguished, powerful but graceful Merlot that’s drinking great right now. Could easily stand in for a good Claret. Surprising tannins…I’m sure this could age longer, but it’s very good to go right now.

Posted from CellarTracker

Photo is a 95, not a 93

My guess is it’s a CellarTracker photo of a different vintage.

Sounds good. I would definitely NOT have guessed this was still be good. Nice TN.

Correct, photo is auto-posted from CT. Will remove it.

Uploaded one from 2003 I found in interwebs.

A little nostalgic - Ravenswood was among the first wines I was introduced to (or introduced myself to) in California.

I wonder if I still have the No Wimpy Wines buttons they used to give away somewhere in a memories box.

I recently bought and drank the 1985 vintage, which was not in decline.

In the original thread on the library offering from Joel, someone mentioned some concern about provenance, since the wines have “been around“ for a long time. All I can say, in addition to the fact that this wine was absolutely excellent, is that I got a case and a half, all of them at least 20 years old, and every single one of them looks like you could have pulled it off a grocery store shelf yesterday. Absolutely pristine.

I will echo the provenance issue. We just opened a 1988 Gregory Cab Sauv – like you, the cork fell apart in the bottle (I brought out the Durand after the regular corkscrew failed, so had cork in the wine). So filtered into a decanter. Really surprised at how good this was. I posted a TN on CT – so will not hijack this thread (more than I have already!), but I am excited about the additional 12 or so bottles of different vintages and wines I got from the recent sale.

PSA…use a Durand when opening ANY Calif wine with 15+ years of age on it.

Sounds like a good rule of thumb! (Where on earth did that phrase come from?)

Awesome. Looking forward to trying mine!

Awesome! Ended up with a lot of the merlot on the offer (a few of this one I think) so glad to hear it was good!

Got 3 of the 93’ Merlot’s. I received my wine yesterday and most of the bottles and corks looked really good. Saw one bottle with a depressed cork that could be troublesome, but won’t know til I open.

Giving them a couple days to settle before I start opening any. Will probably start with the 93’ Merlot since I got 3 of them. Cheers!