Northstar Columbia Valley Merlot 2008
Following yesterday's tasting of the 2007 Northstar Coumbia Valley Merlot, I went back to Binny's (the Chicagoland beverage super store) to buy more of this closeout vintage. Not until I got up to the checkout did I realize I had the 2008 release.This afforded the opportunity to extend our vertical another year (Northstar Journal Notes Index), but more fortuitously, to conduct a comparison tasting since I still had half a bottle remaining from the previous evening.
The Northstar Columbia Valley Merlot 2008 exhibited much the same consistent characteristics of the earlier vintages - inky purple color, forward black fruits, full bodied, firm tannins, and it also had a tone of slight astringency indicative of its youth. The 2008 did not possess that sweetness of the tones of the toffee chocolate layer of the 2007, but it did finish with the layer of lingering oak and spice. I give the '08 a rating of 91 points, consistent with many years, but falling off one point from what I considered the exception 2007.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1210721
http://www.northstarwinery.com/
Following yesterday's tasting of the 2007 Northstar Coumbia Valley Merlot, I went back to Binny's (the Chicagoland beverage super store) to buy more of this closeout vintage. Not until I got up to the checkout did I realize I had the 2008 release.This afforded the opportunity to extend our vertical another year (Northstar Journal Notes Index), but more fortuitously, to conduct a comparison tasting since I still had half a bottle remaining from the previous evening.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1210721
http://www.northstarwinery.com/
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