Waterbrook Reserve Merlot Columbia Valley 2011

I have not found many great bottles of Merlot recently. I checked my posts and found that I was only enthusiastic about one Merlot so far this year. I have tried to find good Merlot, but most of the time what I purchased was not interesting enough to write about. Last week, I found the Waterbrook 2011 Reserve Merlot from the Columbia Valley in Washington at Costco for $13.99 and this time my perseverance was rewarded in a big way!

The Waterbrook Reserve Merlot is 100% Merlot grown in 3 vineyards in the Columbia Valley. The grapes were harvested in October 2011 and aged 24 months in American and French oak,- 25% new oak and 75% oak that is 2 to 5 years old.

This wine has a distinctive flavor. It is a flavor that I have tasted before in wine but it is not common. The bottle mentions a flavor like sun dried cherries and I can accept that as the description of the flavor. In any case, I really like it! The wine does not taste like they made it to appeal to the mass market, it just comes from grapes with unique characteristics. It is a medium bodied wine with powerful flavor and a long, long finish. The 14.3% alcohol content is detectable in the mouth. If you are a merlot drinker, you should give this a try.

SC Wine Joe rating = 91 points

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