TN: A Deep Dive Into Washington State Merlot

WINE TALK
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A handful (if you can call 13 of us a “handful”) of Seattle wine enthusiasts decided to take a deep dive into Washington State Merlot on Saturday afternoon. A discussion with Kris Patten here on WB is what prompted this tasting to take form. Kris has long said that Merlot is the best red variety in the state. Many will say Syrah is, and while I like both Merlot and Syrah from WA, I think that Cabernet Sauvignon is particularly awesome when done right. As such, we thought it would be fun to taste a while bunch of Merlots and Merlot-heavy blends from Washington, and this tasting was scheduled. Bottom line, Kris is right in that Merlot is really fantastic in Washington, when done well and, since my favorite was a blend, I’ll agree again.

What I love about this crew is how low-key everyone is and our focus, in addition to evaluating the wines, was to have a great time. There wasn’t a menu, just some thrown together snacks, and we tasting out our own paces with bagged up flights. Each of the first three flights were done blind and I really enjoyed chatting after each flight and the reactions as we did the big reveals. The flights were all done blind.

Flight One: Varietal Merlot (or close it it)

1A: slight amber/brick on the rim. Big nose that intially showed some age, and a slightly pruney note. I revisited the wine after the tasting was done and the prune had faded. Surprisingly tannic given the age. Powerful wine, lots of dark cherry, great grip. Very good.

1B: much fruitier nose than 1A. Very fresh. There was an interesting red apple note that I detected on the nose. Also quite tannic. There was a greenness to this and the tannins were somewhat drying. I like this, but I think it might be on its downhill slide. A little less concentration than 1A. Good.

1C: clearer ruby. Vanilla tinge on the nose. Sweeter inner-mouth essence that the prior two, but a very minerally finish. Not as good as A or B, and is clipped / short on the finish. Clenched.

1D: cherry candy nose which, to me, smells “cheap.” Decidedly green, herbal, stemmy flavors. Not a fan.

1E: darker color. Nose has some funk / savoriness that wasn’t apparent in any of the prior wines. Nice complexity. Very tannic still. Needs time, and is quite bitter right now. Not for me, at least not yet.

1F: lighter color. The nose was straight-up unpleasant with tons of oak and vanilla. Simple red cherry fruit and not much else. Not good.

1G: dark fruit, nice nose. Great balance. Dark cherry fruit, some raspberry, chocolate, and pepper. Very nice.

Wines:
1A: 2009 Leonetti Merlot Columbia Valley
1B: 2010 Cultura Winery Merlot Yakima Valley
1C: 2009 Owen Roe DuBrul Vineyard Merlot Yakima Valley
1D: 2017 Pepper Bridge Winery Merlot Walla Walla Valley (78% Merlot)
1E: 2017 Elevation Cellars Merlot Columbia Valley
1F: 2017 Love That Red Winery Muddy Truck Merlot Walla Walla Valley
1G: 2017 Love That Red Winery Morning Line Merlot Red Mountain

My favorite of the flight was the Leonetti, followed by the Cultura and then LTR Morning Line. None of us save the person who brought them had ever heard of Love That Red Winery. It was very surprising to us all that the same winery in the same vintage made a straight-up bad wine (1F) and a very nice wine (1G). I really loved the Leonetti and it showed how well some WA State Merlot can age. That said, drink up if you have any.

Flight Two: Somewhat Aged Merlot Blends

2A: nice, fresh nose with a pretty significant amount of tomato leaf / green. No bricking. Round on the palate with fine tannin. Long finish. Good stuff.

2B: beautiful nose. Floral notes under the dark red fruit. Oddly enough, I heard one taster say, “Yuck” as he smelled it. You have to love a variety of takes on the same wine! Full bodied, black cherry dominates, very well balanced. The only critique is it was somewhat nondescript.

2C: very funky nose (I thought maybe bretty, but others said no). This smelled over the hill and wasn’t pleasant. Much better on the palate however. Stiffer tannins. Strange wine.

2D: the nose has a coffee note in there, with very nice complexity. Seems young, and needs time. Wow, this is great! Dark fruit predominates, but with excellent balance. Powerful showing for a Merlot blend.

Wines:
2A: 2012 Baer Winery Star (75% Merlot)
2B: 2012 Quilceda Creek Palengat Red Wine Columbia Valley (59% Merlot)
2C: 2008 Long Shadows Pedestal Merlot (81% Merlot)
2D: 2018 Long Shadoes Pedestal Merlot (82% Merlot)

The 2018 (2D) was my clear favorite and was just excellent. The Quilceda was my second favorite and the taster who said, “Yuck” brought the wine. It was darker and riper for sure, but I still really enjoyed it. I think I’ll drink any Pedestals I have within 7-8 years, as the 2008 wasn’t good, and that was a good vintage in WA.

Flight Three: 2018 Merlot Blends

3A: very expressive nose, but with some oak poking through the raspberry fruit. Great balance, very poised. Raspberry, cherry, and spice. Very nice, and what I would call a “pretty” and stylish wine.

3B: another great nose, darker with more spice. Plump dark cherry fruit on the palate and even some blueberry. Long, somewhat one-dimensional. I think this would have wide appeal with wine enthusiasts and non alike. Really good.

3C: very shy nose. I thought it might have some TCA taint, but I think I was alone in that. The palate really didn’t show anything either. Strange.

3D: very different nose with some funk in there (animal-like). Expressive. Hoisin with dark cherry. Good complexity, if a bit thin. Too young.

3E: very light color compared to the rest. Christmas spices on the nose. Very tannic and astringent and, at least for now, too much so. Hold this, and not enjoyable right now.

Wines:
3A: 2018 DeLille Cellars D2 Columbia Valley (67% Merlot)
3B: Andrew Will Winery Two Blondes Vineyard Red (59% Merlot)
3C: Andrew Will Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Red Mountain (57% Merlot)
3D: Sleight of Hand Cellars The Archimage Columbia Valley (48% Merlot with 52% Cab Franc…an outlier)
3E: Wines of Substance BX Klein Vineyard Walla Walla Valley (41% Merlot)

My favorite was the AW Two Blondes, which stood as a stark contrast to what (to me) was a complete whiff by the second AW. DeLille was my second favorite, but I think a few didn’t like the glossy oak.

Flight Four: a vertical of Betz Family Winer Clos de Betz (non-blind)

2008 Clos de Betz (63% Merlot): very slight bricking, but not much. The nose was full of over-the-hill notes of prune and oyster sauce. This surprised me a great deal. The palate was fresher, but it was probably best five years ago.

2009 Clos de Betz (65% Merlot): also a porty nose with ripe plums. Darker in apeparance with dark cherry and plum flavors, and some spice. Better than the 2008, but not awesome.

2010 Clos de Betz (58% Merlot): a very nice streak of mint on the nose with the dark cherry fruit and a tad bit of tobacco. Great nose! Dark fruit, very dense and powerful, still some tannin there. Excellent.

2011 Clos de Betz (67% Merlot): a more savory nose, almost with underripe fruit, but still enjoyable. Red fruit, leather. This could fool someone as a good Bordeaux. Nice.

The 2010 was absolutely killer and was my favorite of the flight. That very cool vintage produced some outstanding wines that are really still improving. The 2011 was from an even colder vintage and it showed with what, to me, came across as from fruit picked a tad too early. Once again, as with the 2008 Pedestal, this 2008 was not good.

Dessert Flight, non-blind

2011 Chateau Suduiraut Sauturnes - excellent, chock full of peach and apricot. Delicious.

1979 Yalumba “Dulcify” Vintage Port (Australia)
1982 Hardy’s Vintage Port (Australia)

Both of the above were awesome. Tea-like in appearance, they were sweet, long, and really tasty.

This was a really fun tasting and, thanks to ample spitting and sparkling water, I was able to really hold the palate together through 20 reds. I think Kris is onto something in that Merlot really is excellent in this state, and can age very well. I don’t think the blends were necessarily “better” than the 100% Merlots, but I would say that the number of wineries that do 100% Merlot really well are few and far between. Given the choice you’re better off going with a blend that features Merlot. I still give an edge to Cab, but that’s just my palate.

My WOTN: probably that 2010 Clos de Betz. The 2018 Pedestal was impressive, and I loved both the 2009 Leonetti and 2010 Cultura.

Kris, thanks for your donations and we really missed you! Next time!

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Thanks for organizing Brandon and Ron for hosting. My biggest take away is that tasting through 20+ wines in 3 hours if very difficult. My wife, son, and I pick out 4 wines and then taste them over 3 hours.
I know which wines I picked out but not which one is in each decanter. I struggle with just 4 wines.

Wines across the board were very good. I always drove by the Love that Red Winery and thought it was a joke and just a place for bachelorette parities to get plastered. Again I was wrong. I liked their wines. I always love when my preconceived notions are proven wrong.

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GREAT Event and great notes, BRR .

I took far, far fewer notes but agree with your assessment on Flight 1, which is one I paid most attention I think before plate fatigue set in. The Leonetti was decanted (due to a crumbly cork from a dry cellar near Yakima ), and to me it showed old/tired early, but I too revisited and it had really opened up and improved. Not quite passing 1B for my palate. The 1B herbal notes, Freelon pegged olive, really won me over. And I was pleasantly surprised that was also one of the wines I brought, Cultura, which I have used as a Yakima ringer to good effect now 3-4 times at these tastings. You guys need to go find them North of Zillah since they don’t sell in Seattle. I need to talk to them about that.

I seem to remember disagreeing with Brandon on the other flights, but my notes suck.

My wine of the night was the 1979 Yalumba “Dulcify” Port. Shane said it was made from the remains of an emulsified Australian racehorse. Very fast horse, but slowly aging beautiful Port. Second place for me was Cultura and one of the Andrew Will wines from second flight, the one Brandon dissed above. :).

Thanks to Brandon for organizing and Ron for hosting! Great to meet new faces with familiar names/handles!

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Great to see the enthusiasm for Washington Merlot and I’m glad that the 2012 Baer Star showed nicely in your tasting.
FYI Baer is running a case sale right now on 2014 and 2015 Star. I tasted them last weekend at Baer’s wine club event and they are both delicious. 2014 doesn’t need any more bottle age, very much a drink now perfect for the holidays kind of thing. 2015 has more concentration and ripeness than the 2014, it’s bigger all around.
Check out Baer Winery’s website if you guys want in on some perfectly cellared Washington Merlot at a discount.

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That looks like a terrific event. A great write up too. Thanks much Brandon.

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Torn between 2014 and 2015 - could do with a mixed case but that is not on offer! Can’t go wrong with either I guess :grinning:

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Nothing to add, Kris? :wink:

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Other than sheepishly realizing I got the 2008 and 2010 Betz CdB from Eric that were in tasting and it was your WOTD, nope. Oops.

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This was such a fun and informative tasting for many reasons. Fun to meet other friends, old and new, and to just explore the world of WA Merlot and Merlot-dominant wines. Informative to both observe commonalities and differences in both the expressions and styles on display.

For me, the 2010 Clos de Betz was probably my favorite wine that day. (Thank you in absentia, Kris.) I would caveat that slightly because it was the second-to-last of 20 Merlot-related wines we tasted, and even with spitting all afternoon, I’m not entirely sure I trusted my palate at that point. I would de-caveat (if that’s a thing) slightly by noting that I took the last 1/4 bottle of the 2011 CdB home and on it’s third day with nothing but a cork and refrigerator having protected it, it was absolutely singing and a joy to drink. Bordeaux-esque, as Brandon observed, but contrary to Brandon, I don’t think it was picked too early-- at least not to my tastes. No hurry to drink the 2011, in my book. Going into the non-blind tasting of the Clos de Betz, I speculated I’d rank them as 2010, 2008, 2011, 2009. Actual ranking that day for me was 2010, 2011, 2009, 2008.

Of the blind tastings:

  • The 2009 Leonetti Merlot was tannic and dense, and yet I guessed it was a few years older than it actually turned out to be. Quite savory with what seemed like a bit of wildness in it. More intellectual than purely enjoyable for me. (Incidentally, quite a contrast to a 2009 Leonetti Cabernet from the vintage which I had the pleasure of enjoying earlier in the year and that I found to be excellent - both complex and flat-out delicious.)
  • Within its flight I preferred the 2017 Pepper Bridge to both the 2009 Leonetti and the 2010 Cultura. I think I liked the 2009 Owen Roe DuBrul Merlot more than some people, as I appreciated the brightness and purity of fruit on the palate, even if it wasn’t as complex as the Leonetti.
  • The 2018 DeLille D2 had too much oak showing for my taste.
  • The 2017 Love That Red “Muddy Track Red” was my least favorite wine of the day, as it had the most obtrusive oak I’d observed that day, but some others really liked the wine. I was surprised in hindsight that the Love That Red “Morning Line” was from the same producer and vintage, as it seemed to have noticeably less oak than the “Muddy Track Red”. In both cases, I was previously unfamiliar with the producer.

Thank you, Brandon, and to everyone else who made the afternoon enjoyable!

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Is there a Leonetti that you consider a stand out? I’m buying a gift for a Leonetti fan. Nice and special, but not too extravagant. Thanks.

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I agree with what Kris noted elsewhere.
The Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon (Walla Walla Valley) is typically, in my opinion, the best combination of quality and value within the Leonetti line-up. I think that would be a fantastic gift.

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Agreed with others that Leonetti Cabernet Sauvignon is the ticket. I am not on the mailing list but have bought a few over the years at retail or been gifted myself. I had a boss for a while that was generous with his allocation. One note is I’d look for an older vintage for near term drinking. These are consistent year after year, so no real vintages to avoid in the Leonetti Walla Walla Cab.

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Given that they’re already a Leonetti Fan, I think the Cab is the way to go (although the Reserve is tremendous, but expensive as hell), even though the Merlot is excellent too. If this was a person who wasn’t already a Leonetti fan, I’d go with the Merlot.

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