Karyn Fricke

8.9

Orange blossom, citrus and minerals aromas. A little tangy acidity with a soft finish. Good by itself and with food. — 5 days ago

Remington Remmel

9.0

Extremely fruit forward, low tannins, really good if you’re into that kind of thing. Black current heavy on the nose — 6 months ago

Ericsson

9.6

The closest thing to true Bordeaux style red blend from Napa. This wine really accentuates the vintage and the terroir, along with fruit and soil. The Dominus Estate manages the vineyard via dry farming, relying on nature for water, making a profound difference on great vintages such as 2016. Find a good vintage Dominus and you’re bound to have one of kind. Cheers. — 8 months ago

Angela Mazziotta

9.5

2023 easy drinking! — 2 months ago

David Shaw

8.9

Oldfield Vineyard Yakima Valley. Salmon pink with refracted orange tint. Strawberry in nose and mouth. Dryish, reasonable acidity, rounded red fruit and peach on finish. Some raspy skin astringency. Not highly complex but value priced. Tannins soften appreciably after an hour, soft mouthfeel makes it better. — 4 months ago

Kaito Kikuchi

9.4

Very floral but full bodied — 2 years ago

Peter Sultan

9.4

Columbia County 3.0: Apparently I’m one wine away from my 2,000th reviewed on Delectable, which is probably an odd milestone I would not have even conceived of when starting. What better way to celebrate than with the queen bee of wines (?), royalty w grace : an utterly intense & laser- focused Sauternes. Apricot & pineapple perfumed to the point of raising the rafters. Floods the mouth w quince, candied apricot & pineapple. This may be only its half life, & that’s understating it. — 2 years ago

with Owen

Chris Buggy

8.9

Another eater said dry and funky…I second that emotion — 3 months ago

with Jennifer

Tom Casagrande

9.0

Another big boi from this producer. Obviously uses at least a significant proportion of partially dried grapes. Fairly saturated color. Nose is rather subdued, reluctantly giving up scents of leather, underbrush, crushed rock, and dark cherry underneath all of that non-fruit stuff. In the mouth, it’s big, with initial slightly bitter, extracted notes. Tannic. Dissimilar from straight Valpos in its size and austerity. Dissimilar from Ripasso-style Valpos in that the fruit is not especially ripe or sweetish. It will go well with our stuffed shells in red sauce, but is a little challenging on its own. It occurs to me that this might fit in well in a tasting of 2017s from the left bank in Bordeaux. In other words, very atypical for a Valpo. Still, it’s pretty good, as long as you don’t harbor any expectations of typicity.

UPDATE: two nights later (using a vacuum closure), this has actually improved. Kind of amazing for a Valpo of this age. The fruit has moved closer to front-and-center, and it seem a bit more Calpo-like, though it’s still pretty large-framed. Upping score from 8.8 to 9.0. — 6 months ago

"Odedi"

9.6

It is time for some Merlot on this #MerlotThursday. Let's bring Merlot back!

Deep ruby, almost Inky in color, with a very short purplish rim.

Beautiful nose of blackberries, black plums, red cherries, tobacco, light vanilla, spices, cedar, herbs, light earth, chocolates, black pepper and eucalyptus. What a gorgeous nose.

Full-bodied, smooth and elegant, with medium acidity and long legs.

Dry on the palate with black plums, black cherries, earth, tobacco, cedar, vanilla, licorice, spices, chocolates, herbs, leather and black pepper.

Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy cherries.

This is a gorgeous Merlot from Napa Valley. Rich, extracted and elegant. Well balanced and fruit forward.

This 7-year-old is drinking very nicely now, and will continue to age nicely in the next 10 to 15 years.

Nicely balanced with a gorgeous mouthfeel. Not in your face kind of wine, which I really appreciate.

Good right out of the bottle, and better after an hour of airtime, but I did not decant it. As it opens up, more red fruits show up. Really nice, tangy and interesting.

I've had it a few times before, and it is always special. One of the best Merlos for my palate.

Thank you Scott for sharing this with me.

Good by itself or with food, and will pair nicely with a nice piece of steak. I tried it with the French Brie, but it did not work out too well. Much better with the dried meats.

A blend of 96% Merlot with tiny amounts of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged in (85% new) French Oak barrels for 20 months.

14.9% alcohol by volume.

96 points.

$120. — 2 years ago