Chasing Rain Merlot 2019
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Wine &
Spirits -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blackberry, espresso, plum, with hints of licorice and vanilla on the nose. Round and full on the palate with chewy tannins and a core of rich, ripe black fruit. Finishes clean with lingering notes of blackberry preserves.
This wine pairs perfectly with a rack of lamb, roast veal, or filet mignon.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Bright and lifted, with scents of red-cherry and red-berry fruit, this has rich oak notes that gird the flavors. It’s saturated and balanced, with firm, floral tannins.
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James Suckling
Plums, rose water and fresh herbs on the nose. Full-bodied with sweet tobacco and dark chocolate. Firm tannins. I like the note of pine at the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Merlot is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, all from the Aquilini Vineyards on Red Mountain. Juicy black cherry, currants, tobacco leaf, and some classic Red Mountain minerality emerge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, round, and nicely textured on the palate, with ripe tannins. It's well worth checking out and should have 7-8 years of prime drinking.
Chasing Rain wines are a testament to passion and resilience. Despite the complex terroir of Red Mountain, Washington, the wine stewards behind this portfolio have overcome adversity and produced some of the finest wines in the world. With only 6-8 inches of rainfall per year, their passion and hands-on approach to irrigation are essential to their success.
The outcome is a distinguished collection of wines consistently hailed among the finest in the world. Through years of dedication and expertise, their winemakers have mastered their craft, skillfully coaxing out the utmost potential from the land. Each bottle serves as a testament to their unwavering commitment to crafting exceptional wines that authentically capture the distinct terroir of Red Mountain.
The passion and unwavering pursuit of excellence imbue every sip of Chasing Rain wines. They invite you to taste the difference and experience the profound ardor and dedication that infuse each bottle of their extraordinary wines.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley with slopes facing southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, "Red" Mountain.
Red Mountain produces some of the most mineral-driven, tannic and age-worthy red wines of Washington and there are a few reasons for this. It is just about the hottest appellation with normal growing season temperatures commonly reaching above 90F. The soil is particularly poor in nutrients and has a high pH, which results in significantly smaller berry sizes compared to varietal norms. The low juice to skin ratio in smaller berries combined with the strong, dry summer winds, leads to higher tannin levels in Red Mountain grapes.
The most common red grape varieties here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, among others. Limited white varieties are grown, namely Sauvignon blanc.
The reds of the area tend to express dark black and blue fruit, deep concentration, complex textures, high levels of tannins and as previously noted, have good aging capabilities.