Pennywise

2008 Merlot

Notes

Dark purple in color, this Merlot’s nose jumps from the glass with aromas of ripe blackberries, milk chocolate mousse, and fresh caramel crème brulee. Flavors of wild strawberry, toasted brioche bread pudding, and red raspberry fills your mouth with good structure, acidity, and depth. This wine finishes with flavors of deep blackberry, cherries jubilee, and toasty French oak with a hint of clove spice and fresh roasted coffee.

Over the past three vintages, this specific Monterey vineyard continues to impress us with its expressive Merlot fruit with deep color and soft tannins. In order to create a blend with “power and finesse”, we complement the jammy Merlot with Syrah to add structure to this wine. The Syrah comes from a vineyard in Lodi that was allowed to hang until October. The combination of these two lots with a dab of Monterey Ruby Cab, Clarksburg Merlot, and Paso Robles Merlot created a wonderful rich bodied Merlot.

Pairings

This would be a great glass of wine with traditional as well as nouveau inspired Italian dishes; Spaghetti Carbonara with smoky bacon and wild mushrooms, butternut squash ravioli’s with a sage brown butter sauce, veal cutlets with a marsala wine sauce and potato gratin, or malfatti would all be great choices.