Twomey Merlot Wine Review by Silver Oak

TWOMEY MERLOT

2007 Napa Valley Merlot

• Vintage: 2007
• Appellation: Napa Valley
• Release Date: September 1, 2011
• Alcohol: 13.9%
• Composition: 94% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon

Grapes for our Twomey Merlot come exclusively from our Soda Canyon Ranch in southeastern Napa Valley. This vineyard’s rolling hills of volcanic soils are tightly planted with French Merlot clones, selected for their low yield of small, intensely flavored berries. In this mild climate, tempered by cool breezes and morning fog, Merlot ripens slowly and develops rich black-fruit character and extraordinary complexity.

Winemaker’s Notes

Our 2007 Twomey Merlot is a beautiful example of what this noble variety can achieve in an excellent vintage: suppleness, complexity and great expression of berry fruit. It has a dark ruby color and a nose of fresh, ripe black cherry and blackberry, dark chocolate and what the French call “torifaction”, the alluring smell of roasting coffee. On the palate, it has an attack full of explosive fruit and violets prolonged by plenty of umami, the savory fifth taste. It has a long finish echoing berry fruit and chocolate and grainy well-integrated tannins that promise excellent cellaring potential. This Merlot will continue to give drinking pleasure through 2022.

Vintage Description

The 2007 vintage had an unusual combination of a light crop and a cool summer which resulted in great concentration and mature flavors and tannins at moderate alcohol. The season started cool and dry with less than an inch of rain in January. The dry weather continued into spring and the dry soils induced early budbreak and bloom. Fruit set was light and berries were small: crop levels were 15 to 20% below normal. Summer weather was mild with temperatures rarely exceeding 90˚F. Continued dry weather, a warm spell in early August and a Labor Day heat wave were the catalysts for achieving perfect maturity. Contrary to popular belief, low yields do not always make a great vintage, but in 2007, the small berries and long, slow ripening resulted in extraordinary wines.

Winemaking

The wine was racked three times using soutirage traditional, a process developed in Bordeaux over centuries of fine winemaking. This is a slow, labor-intensive method of decanting the wine from one barrel to another without the disruptive effect of pumping. This gentle handling preserves the wine’s full aromatic intensity while achieving a crystal-clear brilliance and smooth, silky texture.

Twomey merlot reviews:

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The nose launches with pepper and spice, along with intense fruit, led by plum, pomegranate, and blackberry, mixed with wafts of wet leather and damp earth, followed by notes of tart cherry, bitter herbs, and coffee.  The palate attacks a bit thin and acerbic at the back, with strong fruit, especially plum and pomegranate, emerging in the center, but without much structural spread.  At 30 minutes, fleeting notes of cocoa, along with dried flower petals and spicy herbs, give the mid-palate a touch of elegant suppleness, but ripe fruit never complements the undertone of tart red and black fruit sufficiently read more…to ‘fill the bowl’ and achieve balance against a strong acidity and tannic bitterness on the finish.  Nevertheless, the lower, darker pops of fruit, dancing on the dry palate, along with some faint notes of spice, sustain just enough to keep the wine interesting and able to deliver an orchestrated assortment of distinctive tastes for the first four or five hours.  This ephemeral complexity disappears after five hours, so the wine is best drunk in the first four.

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The 2003 Twomey Merlot is a robust, yet elegant wine that balances intense fruit with suppleness. It has a smooth, velvety mouth-feel that builds to a crescendo of fruit and chocolate flavors and a lovely, long finish of black fruits and violets.

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