Winemaker’s notes : 1999 was a unique vintage. The crop was small. Generally the weather was very cool but with a blast of heat, over 100 degrees, in early June. The effect of the heat was not evident until harvest when raisins appeared in the clusters of the ripening grapes. I haven’t seen anything like this in 20 years of growing merlot. It made for interesting wine making. The raisining turned out to be positive in that it produced a wine unusual for merlot, with sweet, spicy, fruity characteristics.

 Tasting Notes : This wine is medium bodied, with a beautiful deep ruby color and mouth filling ripe tannins. In the nose the wine projects sweet-spicy and fruit based aromatics with raspberry. On the palate the feel is mouth filling and concentrated, with an acidity that is persistent. The 1999 merlot exhibits a spectrum of flavors ranging from brown spices to raspberry fruit flavors.