I recently purchased some Long Shadows Pedestal Merlot from the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. I bought several of each, after stumbling upon a 2018, which I really liked. I couldn’t find any more 2018, so I splurged on the 2019, 2020, and 2021. This is a new thing for me, since my cellar has been filled with Zinfandel for a long time.
Two questions:
How long should I wait before opening these later years?
How long will these years last?
I have the ‘19. Drinking windows from the professional publications range anywhere from 7 to 17 years. Since you have multiple, the play is to try one and see what you think and how long you should wait before trying it again. It’s all personal preference as to when something’s at its peak and how much you prefer primary or tertiary notes.
As an example to take it with a grain of salt, I had a 2015 La Jota Merlot earlier this year because Wine Spectator said to drink it by 2024 and Vinous had it as 2025. I thought it had plenty of life left and could have gone longer.
These tend to age fairly gracefully as WA Merlot is pretty robust compared to Napa Merlot (more like mountian Merlot from CA).
Pedestal tends to be a bit more lush and oaked, so anytime after 5 years is fine to check in, reslly just depends on what you are looking for in it, ripe fruit or dried fruit.