Merlot Rocks

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Sonadora

Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from L’Ecole.

In preparation for the Wine Blogger Conference 2010 being held in Walla Walla, WA (which I will not be attending this year, sob!) several Washington State wineries sent out samples to bloggers for a “tour of Washington wine.” I hadn’t previously had much wine from WA, so I jumped at the chance to try some more examples. The first winery to ship samples was L’Ecole and I’ve written about a few of their wines already. Tonight we chose the 2007 L’Ecole No. 41 Estate Merlot. The Estate Merlot hails from the Seven Hills Vineyard in Walla Walla, clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for about $37.

Anyone who is still wallowing in the “Merlot is insipid” phase need only give the L’Ecole a chance. On the nose i got pepper, spice, bright black berry, black plums, earth, and cinnamon. In the mouth blackberry, plum, spice, earth, and cinnamon…just like the nose. I found it to be juicy with nice acidity and really well done overall. My notes say: this isn’t your gramma’s Merlot unless you have a really cool gramma.

Filed under: Merlot, Red, Washington, Wine | Comments Off on Merlot Rocks