Three Palms Merlot 2018 (Duckhorn)

Drink now or cellar for up to 14 years. Decant for one hour before serving. One of Duckhorn’s iconic wines, the Three Palms showcases the potential of the Merlot grape to produce age-worthy, refined wines with incredible depth of flavour. Redcurrant, cherry, bitter dark chocolate and pomegranate notes intermingle harmoniously on the nose, setting the stage for a rich full body, refined tannins and intense deep berry, earth and black tea flavours. The savoury character of this wine makes the Three Palms an excellent match for roasted herby lamb chops. All of the grapes for this ambitious Merlot are sourced from the Three Palms vineyard in Napa which takes its name from the majestic trees standing within its bounds. Duckhorn has been producing Three Palms since their very first vintage in 1978, making this one of California’s first single vineyard Merlots. Since then Duckhorn has carved out a stellar reputation for producing some of America’s best Merlot as well as other elegant Bordeaux-style wines. The Three Palms vineyard benefits from a warm microclimate along with poor soils which force the vines to go deep into the earth to find sufficient nutrients. This struggle helps to produce superb wines with complex layers of flavours and considerable longevity. Following vinification the Three Palms Merlot is aged in French oak barrels for 18 months to giving attractive hints of sweet spices and additional structure to the wine. Duckhorn manages to produce here a particularly focused, pure expression of the varietal character.