Name: Onabay Vineyards Merlot Great Blue Heron 2019 750ml
Brand: Onabay Vineyards
SKU: 929918
Price: 23.88 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 88 (1 reviews)

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Winery

Onabay Vineyards

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Varietal

Merlot

With its dark blue colored fruits and high juice content, Merlot varietal grapes have long been a favorite of wine producers around the globe, with it being found in vineyards across Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in the New World. One of the distinguishing features of Merlot grapes is the fact that they have a relatively low tannin content and an exceptionally soft and fleshy character, meaning they are capable of producing incredibly rounded and mellow wines. This mellowness is balanced with plenty of flavor, however, and has made Merlot grapes the varietal of choice for softening other, more astringent and tannin-heavy wines, often resulting in truly exceptional produce. Merlot is regarded as one of the key 'Bordeaux' varietals for precisely this reason; when combined with the drier Cabernet Sauvignon, it is capable of blending beautifully to produce some of the finest wines available in the world.

Country

United States

Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.

Region

New York

New York state has a wine history which stretches back to the mid-17th century, when Dutch settlers first began cultivating grape vines in the Hudson Valley. Since then, the wine industry of New York has grown from strength to strength, mixing the old with the new as wineries continue to experiment with modern techniques alongside their traditional heritage. Indeed, certain wineries in New York state hold a claim to being amongst the oldest and most well established in the New World, with at least one dating back over three hundred and fifty years. New York state is responsible for a relatively small range of grape varietals, due to its cooler, damper climate, but many varietals such as Riesling and Seyval Blanc thrive in such conditions and produce wines a of singular quality.

Appellation

Long Island

WA 88pts

Wine Advocate

The 2019 Merlot Great Blue Heron also has 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and a trace amount of Petit Verdot, all aged for 16 months in used French oak of various ages. It comes in at 13.3% alcohol. One of the nicer inexpensive reds, this is textured and fruity at the same time. It has some ripe tannins for support, although structure is not its strongest suit. Rather, the mid-palate finesse and refinement are its best features. The fruit is tasty and the whole seems a little on the sophisticated side. This is not by any means a great Merlot, and I'm not sure it even matches recent performances, but at the price point, it is sure hard to argue too much on this graceful red.

Winery Notes

• Practicing Organic. • Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. • North Fork of Long Island AVA. • Hand-harvested. • 100% destemmed. • Cold-soaked for two days prior to fermentation. • Gentle punch down management. • Transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation. • Aged 17 months in French oak (20% new).

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Onabay Vineyards Merlot Great Blue Heron 2019 750ml

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