2012 Merlot (Sold Out)

Tasting Notes

A bright and lively nose, with flavors of rose, rhubarb and cherry steeped in tea rose with a hint of pepper. This Merlot has great varietal character: light but bold with a vivid, reflective, cherry color. Soft on the tongue, with fine-grained tannins and medium density, this wine will bloom in the glass over the course of several hours.

Vineyard Notes

Seavey’s 19th vintage of estate-produced Merlot, the 2012, was made from grapes that came from vines located in several different blocks of the south-facing hillside vineyard. The growing season was marked by mild and stable weather between May and October, creating an ideal climate for grapevine growth and development, with even and slow ripening. Our hillside Merlot block was carefully handpicked in sequential rolling harvests starting at the top and working down, producing multiple small lots that were then separately vinified and aged.

Production Notes

Winemaking followed classic Bordeaux methods with whole-berry fermentation. In the cool of the early morning harvest, grapes were promptly de-stemmed and the berries were gently transferred into fermentation tanks. In order to carefully manage the tannins and resulting wine texture, our grapes were neither crushed nor run through a pump. Following fermentation, the wine was aged in French oak barrels (40% new) for 19 months before bottling in June 2014.

100% ESTATE GROWN, PRODUCED & BOTTLED, NAPA VALLEY AVA