Mayacamas Mt Veeder Merlot 2006

Mayacamas Mt Veeder Merlot 2006

I pulled this from the cellar for casual sipping with some cheese and pate. I was longing for a Merlot, something a bit lighter than a firmer more structured Cabernet, and more subtle than a big forward fruit filled Syrah, two of our more common selections.

We’re heading to SoCal this week to visit sister Jan and Bro-in-law Bill, so I pulled from the cellar a couple of wines to take along to share when we’re together. I picked wines that we tasted together at the winery or estate. Hence, this wine was a prelude to those, one we picked up on one of our trips together to Napa. 

We tasted and acquired this wine during our Napa Valley MtVeeder Wine Experience back in 2011. During that last two decades, we learned to focus our trips and pare them down to wineries close to each other. This vastly simplified our planning, transit from site to site, and overall in-depth study and understanding of the area. We learned to focus on one appellation (wine region with similar characteristics of terroir – soil, elevation, climate, terrain, and so on.

We visited the Mayacamas estate, winery and vineyards on our last day of that trip.

Mayacamas Mt Veeder Merlot 2006

Dark garnet purple colored, medium full bodied, round, concentrated full black berry fruits with notes of bramble, smoke, pepper, spice and hint of tobacco with tangy acidity on the tongue puckering lingering finish. There was a fair amount of sediment that I should have strained or decanted off but in the simplicity of the evening, I simply popped and poured.

RM 89 points.   

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