Boardwide Virtual Tasting: Napa Merlot 3/20-23-PILE ON NOW!

WINE TALK
81

Post-script on the 2003 Michael Black Vineyard from Paul Hobbs. My wife got back from a college trip with our daughter and wanted a glass of wine. I poured the Michael Black, hoping it it improved from last night. She had a question - “what is this?”.

I asked her what she meant. She had three questions - 1. Is this wine? 2. Is this some kind of port? 3. Can you open something else? [rofl.gif]

82

So I did.

1995 Farella-Park Vineyards Merlot, Napa Valley, Orchard Block. Picked this up from a library release by the winery a couple of years back. Beautiful ruby color with no signs of age at the edges. On the nose, an exotic mix of red fruits (cherry and currant primarily), smoke, earth and leather. But lively, not heavy. Very complex and richly flavored on the palate. Nuances would emerge then recede. At times, a little black licorice came out on the palate along with the nose notes. Nice amount of acidity keeps the finish fresh. Excellent wine and a nice comeback after the 2003 Paul Hobbs.

83

Sweet oak nose (once the Beacham-modified Andouzing complete), medium bodied. Rubbery aromas. The sweet oak follows on the palate. Pretty simple. Next night a little better, slightly richer, a little Asian spice, more integrated. Went well with the last 10 minutes of the UNC-LSU game.
[highfive.gif]

Mediocre wine, poor QPR. Nothing atrocious and I’d probably be happy getting it at a cocktail party (or while partying with the 2 Sideways girls no matter what Miles says) but for $25 bucks this is a big time pass. The much ballyhooed (deservedly so) Martini Sonoma 06 Cab at well less than half the price kicks this poor little Merlot’s ass like a red-headed step-child.

Shoulda opened the 59 Petrus. [laughingneqw.gif]

To follow the rules: This wine was exceptional in its averageness.

84
  • 2002 Beringer Vineyards Merlot Bancroft Ranch - USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain (3/21/2009)
    Initially upon opening this wine was a little off-putting on the nose with an almost pickley dill scent mixed with rasberry liqueur. The raspberry part was nice but didn’t seem to gel well with the pickley bits. After perhaps 30 mins that initial hit of dill blew off, leaving just the nicer fruit scents in their place, which improved my overall impression of the wine. Flavors were fairly nice with good fruit and more complex then your average merlot with a bit of a oaky overtone and pleasant texture. I suspect that when this wine was initially released 4 or 5 years ago that it was very oaky and that oak seems to be just starting to integrate now. The price on this was initially $72, marked down to $43. It’s good, but certainly not worth $72 and it’s really a stretch to say that $43 is much better. (87 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

85

2001 Paloma Merlot

Wow! What an intriguing place this wine is in on the maturity scale.

I get tons of fruit which is shoe-horned in, yet some mature notes as well. Black fruits, kirsch, and mocha up front, but then then it morphs into a mature gravy and cola finish. Tannins are quite soft and just barely sweet. They are a bit displaced by the slightly higher acid on the back end.

This is really nice stuff - and old school Robert Foley quaffable. I’d give 91-93 points to this pop and pour. Will check back later after it opens somewhat.

Curious how this young fruit does with mature tannin later in the day.

86

Wow… a whole lot of average (at best) performances here. I am quite surprised to see that across the board no one was really excited about the bottles they opened. Interesting results… [1974_eating_popcorn.gif]

87

2001 Paloma - several hours later.

This has taken on a lot of weight.

Initially it felt dead. Then it began to awake, but was light in body. Now it has resumed its assault, but as a unified effort. Wow is this impressive. The strong fruit and acid remain, but the tannin backbone has found its a bit of its ardor as well. The finish is long enough that one needs a stopwatch. There is real heft here now on the palate and the nose is intoxicating. Leaning more toward the 93 point side of the scale from 91 to 93.

88

Ughhh…I had to back out of the tasting. I caught a stomach bug and was out of position Saturday night and all day yesterday. I really hate the gift that keeps on giving.

89

From this tasting, it would appear that California Merlot is still boring.

Why does France do Merlot so much better? [dash1.gif]

90

From some of these tasting notes Tex, it sounds like what when into the tasters was not much better than what was coming out of you. [foilhat.gif]

91

Venge Family 2000 Reserve Merlot
Opened and took a couple sips right away, medium bodied with nice deep purple color and lots of spice and some fruit. Let it rest for a couple hours to have with dinner. Totally uninspiring, lost most of what it had and was now tasting thin and blah blah blan !
Let’s not do another CA merlot !

92

Posted from CellarTracker

93

ouch ouch ouch

whose friggin’ idea was this?

94

Looks like the 1995 Farella-Park, Orchard Block, may have been the wine of the event (by default?).

95

Dunno, probably some “Sideways” guy. We need to send him some Pinot
[rofl.gif]

96

I’m a couple days late to the party but I just opened a 1999 Pahlmeyer Merlot and it was GOOD! I felt I had to post a note to bring the average score in this thread up a bit. I’ve had this wine 3 times since release and it’s in a good place today. The color is dark red with minimal signs of age. The nose is probably the weakest aspect of the wine. It’s not off-puting but it just doesn’t give off much fruit. The palate is great: medium bodied, silky, in balance. The fruit is definitely of a dark profile: blackberry, plum, occasionally some hint of black cherry. I was hoping for some of the dark chocolate/mocha I have gotten from this wine in the past but it has subsided since my last try a few years ago, possibly the oak integrating…it’s still in the background a bit. The wine finishes with a hint of grippy tannin but it’s definitely at or past it’s prime. Overall, a very nice wine.

97

My thanks to all who participated in this event for reassuring me that having no Cali merlot in the cellar is not a bad thing!

98

Gerry, I own 3.
I will buy no more.

99

Never got around to popping my 99 pride but here is my note from a few months ago. I only own 3 bottles of CA merlot and they are all the 99 pride. By the way this thread has been going, I am kinda glad this is the only CA merlot I own.

  • 1999 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot - USA, California, North Coast, Napa / Sonoma (12/13/2008)
    Nice bottle of merlot. Notes of black fruit, baking chocolate with a nice dry finish. Loads of mocha and espresso on the nose. Slightly short on the finish but still full, round and complete. (91 pts.)
100

Per CT I have 10 cases of assorted Cali merlot of which 65% consists of Pride, Paloma, Switchback and Robert Foley…based on the notes so far I suppose I should make some effort to drink these down and not replenish?