Medium ruby color; attractive, relatively mature, deep herbal, smoky, black cherry and dark berry fruit aroma with spicy notes and hints of brown sugar and roasted coffee bean; medium-full to full body; plush, herbal, red and black fruit flavors with good, depth, balance, and richness; medium-full tannin; lingering afterstaste.  Appealing to taste now, though best to age for another three to five years. Very highly recommended.

The 2011 Merlot Vintner’s Select is 100% Merlot aged 20 months in 40% new French oak. A smaller cuvée of 418 cases, it reveals plenty of chocolaty, dense black cherry and plum-like fruit intermixed with hints of Asian spice, earth and tobacco leaf. This plump, chewy, sensual 2011 is best drunk over the next 7-8 years.