WESTERLY VINEYARDS
2007 MERLOT
Santa Ynez Valley
Tasting Notes
The vintage of 2007 is a memorable one for most varieties in Santa Ynez Valley and Merlot is no exception. Wonderful mixes of scents are present here. With the wine’s youthfulness, it’s no surprise that fresh berry aromas, such as blueberries and red raspberries, leap from the glass. An undercurrent of cassis, thyme, cinnamon, and toasted bread add layers of complexity. And in the background, at a nicely balanced level, is sweet French oak.
The wine is a beautiful color – a ripe blue/red. On the palette the wine is immediately juicy and fruit driven with flavors of blackberry and cherry. This medium bodied and ready-to-drink Merlot is wrapped in fine grained tannins which will provide many years of drinking pleasure.
Winemaking and Aging
All the grapes were crushed and destemmed into 1-ton fermentors and punched down by hand daily. Pressing occurred at dryness. Clean racked wine was placed in 100% French oak barrels, 35% of which were new. The wine remained in barrel for 18 months.
Varietal Composition
Merlot 100%
Vineyard
McGinley Vineyard and Star Lane Vineyard
Bottle Analysis
Alcohol – 14.4 on label
(actual is 14.7)
pH – 3.78
TA – 5.9 g/l
Cases Produced
1,825
Suggested Retail
$26/bottle
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