Cakebread 2016 Merlot, Napa Valley

The Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Merlot fruit comes from diverse vineyard sites ranging from Suscol Springs Ranch in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley to sites in Rutherford and Calistoga. Suscol Springs is a unique site for Merlot that stresses the vines resulting in smaller, more concentrated fruit. Each vineyard produces differing and distinctive grapes, resulting in a complex, multi-layered Merlot that is bold and elegant, as well as concentrated and fresh.


In 2016 the separate lots of Merlot from each vineyard site were hand-harvested at night to maintain cool temperatures and integrity of the fruit. The lots were fermented in stainless steel tanks with careful pump overs to fully extract color, flavor and tannin from the skins, then moved to barrels to finish a secondary fermentation. The wines were aged in 44% new French oak barrels before blending in July of 2017. The final blend was then aged for an additional nine months, totaling 17 months before bottling.


A blend of 82% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, 6% Syrah and 5% Cabernet Franc, this is a savory, bold and structured wine, with a firm foundation. Hints of dried herbs, along with aromas of deep blackberry and black cherry, are evident along with mineral notes of crushed stone. The flavors are deeply concentrated with black plum, as well as fresh blackberries to match the nose. Freshness and acidity are followed by silky textures and refined, elegant tannins.