2015 Merlot, Bacchus Vineyard MAGNUM

From Winemaker, John Abbott:

Merlot is the varietal that brought Molly and me to Washington State and Walla Walla in 1993. We have had a long relationship with Merlot, and I enjoy it as much as ever, having worked with it for many vintages. The seamless combination of fruit, balance, and structure that can be achieved with the fruit grown in our region makes it really special. It is also perfectly suited for the cooler vintages we sometimes have, as well as for the more traditional warmer years.

We are fortunate to work with the crew at Bacchus and Dionysus, who work very hard to grow the best wine grapes possible, and they are quite successful in their mission. While this is our first release of Merlot from Devona, we started working with the fruit from this amazing vineyard in 1997, and we have enjoyed working with it since. This also happens to be the same year that block four was planted. The 2015 Merlot is 100% from that block.

Once picked, the fruit was carefully sorted, fermented, and delicately pressed. The wine was then aged for 19 months in a blend of tight-grained Bordeaux barrels. I minimized rackings on this vintage to protect the wonderful fruit aromas. This wine is elegant and complex, with dense, dark blue fruits. Then blackberries, candied cherries, and fresh Italian prunes carry through to the mid-palate. The mouth has good weight, plenty of nice fruit, as well as subtle hints of cinnamon stick and tobacco. It is lush and round, with beautiful structure and a rich lasting finish.

At Devona, we have waited to release our wines so they can have a little more bottle age than some of our wines in the past. Given that the Bordeaux varieties have a longer production time than the Pinots and the white wines, I have had the opportunity to think long and hard about music for this wine. This Merlot is so multifaceted that it really needs a vast mixture of music. So I recommend Gretchen Wilson’s cover of Funk #49, Joe Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends, and the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1979. This pairing will please all the senses. I hope you enjoy this first Merlot release from Devona!