Big and brawny, this is dry and hard in tannins, as Nickel & Nickel wines tend to be in youth. This one, from a cool section of southern Napa Valley, is brisk in acids, making it rather closed now. But it has a gigantic core of blackberries, with a delicious edge of dark chocolate. Merlot is a difficult wine to age in California, but this one should improve over the next five years, maybe longer. — (9/1/2012) —93

Made in the Nickel & Nickel style, which is very dry and considerably more tannic than its peers in Napa Valley, this Merlot needs some time in the cellar to shed its astringency and let the cherries blossom. The vineyard is in a cooler, southerly part of the valley. ——S.H.(10/1/2010)—— 89