Shafer Vineyards Merlot 2013

From a superb vintage, this wine introduces itself with enticing perfumy aromas of cherries and briar fruit that fill not just the glass but the space around the glass. This Merlot shines with juicy, chewy flavors of cherry pie, blackberry, strawberry, minerality and soil – an elegant, mouth-filling wine whose lengthy finish will leave you wanting more.

John Shafer and his family founded Shafer Vineyards, located in the Stags Leap District of the Napa Valley, in 1979. From the Shafers' first wine, a 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon, their wines have won much acclaim. Today, the Shafers farm 200 acres of vineyard in the Stags Leap District, Carneros and Oak Knoll regions. Their flagship wine, Hillside Select, is produced from selected blocks of the family's hillside vineyards and is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. They also produce Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay, Merlot, One Point Five (Cabernet Sauvignon) and Relentless (a Syrah/Petite Sirah blend), which was named #1 wine of the year by Wine Spectator's "Top 100" of 2012.