Hi I'm Marshall Tilden here with Hope Valley Winery Merlot this is 2018 Napa Valley Uh I am extremely excited about this one And I'll tell you why so I was at a Tasting uh maybe a month or two ago and It was you know dozens dozens of wines All From from all over the world some Napa Some Bordeaux some South Africa France Burgundy and to me this wine Stood out in the pack of a lot of excuse Me A lot of really really great wines So um It was on a flight on a table with a Number of wines that were made by very Famous winemaker Jean Haflinger who if You don't know that name Jean is the Winemaker of Alpha Omega And John got his started at Lynch barge He's been making wines you know All over Bordeaux all over Napa and he Has crafted Several 95 to up to 100.1 so he's had perfect Wines which is a very rare thing in this World to create a perfect wine but he's Done it on more than one occasion uh so This one Stood out on on a few different reasons And The main was that I had a hard time believing that it was
Merlot uh it was so you know Rich big Powerful You know even looking at this color so This Pope Valley Winery is uh located It's just above Howe mountain and uh This area has it's a really warm climate Um gets a lot a lot of sun but has Really cool evenings really cool Mornings so The fruit's going to get a long long Hang Time It's going to be able to develop those Complex Aromas but it's also going to be Able to develop the acidity needed for These wines so it's a really interesting Region up in Up in Napa and oh yeah Again super intense wine Fruit Spice is I barely have to even get my Nose next to the glass to start smelling This and it is Got all kinds of Plum Strawberry Black cherries Beautiful spice like a potpourri and a Dried herb spice almost like A dried bay leaf Definitely have some vanilla on here as Well so this this wine does see some Oak They're using new French oak on here Um and they they wait before they Release it this had about two years in
Bottle Of resting before it before it was Before it was released yeah let's taste This [Music] So Just as when I first tasted it at the Tasting this is a really rich Well-structured concentrated You know Powerhouse Merlot this has All kinds of black fruit black cherries Black currants red fruits plums Strawberries I mean it's just a really Complex fruit profile that's going on Here vanilla is coming out black pepper Is coming out notes of mint are coming Out and you're getting Just a Kiss of That sort of smoky Cedar tobacco thing That's going on because it's a 2018 by The way it's a fantastic vintage in Napa Which is why you know wines like this Are Merlot can be so so big because it Was such a warm year Um Full-bodied wine it is a Steakhouse Merlot and one thing I should note is That you know this is 75 Merlot It's got 22 caps of the rest Malbec and Um you know that that cab that cab heavy Balance of that 22 percent is really Notable so what makes this a special Wine to me is that It carries a lot of cab character a lot Of Steakhouse Great Gap character but
It's going to come at a tremendous value Because it's going to be a Merlot and I'll set it set it many times I'll say It again don't be afraid of merlot these Are great great beautiful Well-structured wines that are going to Age and just Pleasing for for so many years to come So cheers and enjoy [Music]