Estate Grown Paso Robles Merlot

Dense purple, highly extracted pigment. Cherry, mixed berry and sage notes in nose on initial pour. Blueberry, cherry flavors, light fine-grained skin astringency in finish, nice length of fruit. Interesting tannin structure, heavy in skin contact, light on seeds. Tannins build in intensity with time, aeration. The Castoro style for reds is tannin-heavy, not to everybody’s taste, but I’ve always admired their commitment to a style that’s gone somewhat out of fashion elsewhere. To my thinking, it enhances even the much maligned Merlot varietal (Sideways, anyone?) No one wants to age wines like this anymore, it seems. I wonder if wines like this even need further aging. Decant, aerate, enjoy, tannins and all... Three hours should do it.