Brassfield Estate Winery

One of the reasons Merlot sank in quality (and reputation) in the late 1990s is that I-want-it-all-now newcomers planted the variety on heavy soils in warm places where the vegetation on the vines ran riot and the fruit lost any prayer of complexity. Not Jerry Brassfield and his winemaking partner Kevin Robinson. They put their Merlot in a nice cool valley in Lake County, on rocky soils that drain like a sieve, and in a place where the rim of the valley would shade the vines in late afternoon. The result: Merlot that might remind you of France, not Fairfield.

The wine invites with intense aromas of sweet berries and cherries, then hits your tongue with a flood of plush, sweet fruit laced with cola and summery herbs. The wine is definitely mouth-filling, and while it saw plenty of new oak it’s more firm than astringent; the fruit rides the structure and acidity keeps it clear and bright through to the finish, where it gets plummier (I thought of the sweet/sour skins of the Satsuma plums I used to climb the neighbors’ trees for as a kid). An extra year in bottle adds polish to the whole package. If this came from a better-known AVA, you’d pay twice the $24 they’re asking.

Reviewed April 11, 2007 by Thom Elkjer.