2020 Leonetti Merlot Walla Walla Valley
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Tasting notes
The 2020 Merlot opens with a mentholated freshness, as crushed blueberries and dusty rose give way to hints of sweet baking spice. This is like pure silk on the palate. Elegant and plush in feel, with sweet red fruits offset by brilliant acidity and white pepper. The 2020 tapers off structured yet fresh, to almost trick me into wanting to drink it now. Violette pastille and black currant linger on, as this tapers off lightly structured and almost too easy to like. The 2020 is luxuriously soft in feel, and with an earlier appeal than usual.
Critic scores
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Jeb Dunnuck
Eric Guido, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Always bottled early, the 2020 Merlot is all varietal from a mix of sites in the Walla Walla Valley. It has a juicy, medium to full-bodied, chewy style on the palate as well as good purity in its ripe red and blue fruits, notes of tobacco, scorched earth, and graphite-like aromatics. It has some grippy, chalk tannins, and while rock-solid today, it's not a wine to hide away in the cellar.