Pedroncelli - Merlot - Bench Vineyards 2018

Tasting notes

Aromas are rich and enticing with hints of spice and ripe berries. Flavors of red plum, black tea and warm baking spices are showcased with a light oak toast and mocha notes. Medium bodied with rounded tannins follow through to a savory and lingering finish. A beautifully balanced wine.

Bench Vineyards

The source for our Merlot comes from three vineyard blocks off of our estate vineyard located along Dry Creek Road from vineyard planted over 5 years beginning in 1990. Bench Vineyards, the name chosen for this wine, describes the natural terraces that flank Dry Creek Valley and rise gradually into the steep hills. Characterized by sloped topography and gravelly/rocky residual soils, the unique growing conditions combine to bring out the best in our Merlot.

Vintage

The vintage began with plenty of rain at the start of the season. A cool summer slowed the ripening of the grapes which gave the all-important hang time for better development of the fruit. Our Merlot shows ripe flavors, bright acidity and wonderful aromatics as a result.

The grapes were harvested on September 15 and crushed into temperature controlled stainless steel tanks and cold soaked for 48 hours. Daily pumpovers during the fermentation gives a substantial increase in flavor and color. The young wine was transferred to small American oak barrels to age for 12 months in order to develop smoothness and complexity, giving the wine a subtle backbone of oak components with a judicial use of new oak.

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