Aquinas Merlot

Description

WINEMAKING NOTES Our 2010 Aquinas Merlot offers dark and rich aromas of boysenberry, plum and sweet tobacco enrobed with the essence of warm baking spice. This wine is beautifully balanced and layered, revealing flavors of red raspberry, red currant, cardamom and soft, subtle vanilla notes. Its smooth and velvety through the mid-palate, framed with a toasty finish.APPELLATION Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the United States and its not surprising. Its unique for the diversity of its soils found in such a small geographical area. Bordered by two mountain ranges, the valley stretches approximately 30 miles North to South, one mile east to west at its narrow northern end and five miles at its widest point near the town of Napa. Its maritime climatewarm days and cool nightscoupled with deep yet not excessively fertile soils makes it ideally suited for the cultivation of premium grapes. The first grapes were planted here in 1838, and today Napa accounts for four percent of Californias total wine production, focusing primarily on the top-end of the wine market.VINTAGE The 2010 vintage proved to be a challenging one for growers. A wet winter and spring continued well into June, delaying bloom and disrupting fruit set. Vineyard managers worked to ensure ripening by thinning leaves and crops to get more sun exposure, but that strategy backfired for some when a late August heat spike hit the valley desiccating the exposed fruit in some areas. The wines emerging from this vintage are characterized by their eleganceslightly higher acidity, dark colors, and generally lower alcohol levels.OUR PHILOSOPHY Aquinas wines were born from our conviction that good wineone of lifes simple pleasuresshould be easily accessible to all. In championing this philosophy we didnt take the easy route. We headed straight for the esteemed Napa Valley, where we began crafting luxurious wines that would be priced within reach of most wine drinkers. Aquinas wines are named in tribute of St. Thomas Aquinas, a revolutionary philosopher of the 13th century who used scientific methods to try to prove the existence of a higher being. Just as St. Thomas sought to question the assumptions of his world, we seek to challenge the assumptions of ours. – Aquinas