Sterling Napa Merlot 2016
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The Sterling Vineyards Napa Valley Merlot is a vivid ruby-red color in the glass with aromas of blackberry fruit, plum and ripe black cherry. The appealing bouquet leads to a mouthcoating, rich palate where additional red and black fruit flavors mingle with notes of graphite and dried spice. The viscous mouthfeel of the wine is plush and the ripe tannins are refined and polished. The Napa Valley Merlot is well-balanced and elegant, offering true varietal characteristics and a sleek, flavorful finish.
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Plush and well-spiced, with sinewy power to the dried red currant, plum and raspberry flavors. Notes of slate and hot stone show on the chiseled finish. Drink now through 2022.
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Sterling Napa Valley wines show the depth, strength and expressive quality of California’s most famous wine region. Fruit for Sterling wines is grown throughout Napa Valley, from the cool southern Carneros region next to San Pablo Bay to the rugged northernmost bench-lands and reaches near our Calistoga homeplace. Sterling has more than five decades of winemaking excellence in Napa Valley, and winemaker Harry Hansen is able to build from that experience to select the finest lots to create the most memorable expressions of the varietal for each vintage. Key to the signature Sterling style is the contribution of fruit from our home base surrounding Calistoga, where fully ripe fruit offers soft tannins, black fruit profiles and approachability, alongside the firmer tannins evident in fruit from Diamond Mountain, offering great balance in the final assemblage and cuvée.
As Napa Valley’s third most planted grape, Napa Valley Merlot shows time and time again its potential to produce exceptional results. Napa’s vaunted combination of climate, soil and the human factor of winemaking expertise lead to big, ripe, cellar-worthy and world-class versions.
Whether made by itself in single varietal bottlings or as an important role in Bordeaux Blends, Merlot continues a prominent role in this famous region. While Cabernet typically takes the lead role, Merlot’s contribution—even at 10% to 20% or so—is significant indeed. Often described as “the flesh on Cabernet’s bones,” Merlot lends a soft, round and plush character that beautifully complements Cabernet’s linear, full-throttle structure. Its flavors of plums plus subtle herbs and mint also dovetail nicely with Cabernet’s blackberry and cassis.