2007 Pride Mountain Merlot Napa/Sonoma
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Tasting notes
Good full red. Perfumed aromas of redcurrant, plum and licorice, lifted by a floral nuance. Bigger, richer and plumper than the cabernet franc, but a bit youthfully mute and evolving slowly. Dominated by red berries today and displaying solid supporting structure. Finishes with dusty tannins. This will need some bottle aging to develop more aromatic complexity.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2007 Merlot, which comes from both Napa and Sonoma fruit (the Pride Mountain vineyards are split by the county line), exhibits a dense purple color as well as abundant chocolate and berry fruit notes, medium to full body, and great freshness, length, and depth. It is a heady, succulent style of Merlot to drink over the next 7-10 years. Although this is a Napa report, I took the liberty of including the Pride Mountain Sonoma bottlings since their wines tend to be primarily Bordeaux varietals rather than the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, etc. that will be covered in the Sonoma report. My apologies to subscribers and the winery for some mistakes I made last year in issue #180, when I listed 2006 instead of 2005 for the Reserve and Vintner's Select wines. This is the strongest portfolio of Pride Mountain wines that has been made under the new winemaker, Sally Johnston, who replaced Bob Foley several years ago. Tel. (707) 963-4949; Fax (707) 963-6039