Reviews & Ratings

2004 J. Bookwalter Winery Merlot

Winery: J. Bookwalter Winery

Vintage: 2004

Wine Name/Vineyard:

Wine Category: Merlot

Grape blend: 84% Merlot, 8% Malbec, & 8% Petit Verdot

Bottle size: 750 ml

Region: Columbia Valley

State or country: WA

Price: $38

Cases produced: 1,171

KWG Score: 89.3 (based on 3 reviews)

Ken's Wine Rating: Very Good+ (93.99-90)

Review date: June 28, 2007

Wine Review: This Washington Merlot recently came in 2nd place in our recent Merlot blind tasting. The panel was quite impressed with this wine. This wine opens with a pleasant cherry and blackberry bouquet and shows a touch of heat on the nose. On the palate, the wine is smooth, nicely concentrated, and expresses very good fruit flavors. The finish is very dry, slightly tannic, and quite prolonged. Enjoy – KWGTP

Winemaker Notes: Like all of our wines, our 2004 Merlot is aged exclusively in hand selected, small French oak barrels that are meticulously chosen for their richness and suitability for a particular variety of wine. Our 2004 Merlot blend was aged for 15 months in Francois Freres, Treuil and Radoux barrels that beautifully framed in the Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot fruit from this vintage. The final blend displays spicy vanilla, chocolate, espresso and candied cherries on the nose followed by concentrated flavors of sweet black cherries, black currants, cassis and cocoa all wrapped with a hint of earthiness on the palate. The wine is viscous and the tannins are sweet, lush and linger on the palate for nearly one full minute.

Buy it: Use 1000 Corks to find stores that sell Merlot.