Havens blended this Merlot with Cabernet Franc in the style of some of the great St. Emilions, thus filling out the middle palate, adding length and a spicy, red-fruit accent to the flavors. With time in the bottle, the wonderful primary fruit flavors will dissipate, and this bottling will take on a tobacco and forest floor complexity, typical of the finest Merlots.

Benoni Merlot's fruit comes from several top vineyard sites in Napa, with the vast majority coming from Chateau Chevre and Beau Terroir. In Napa's cool southern hills, the growing season got off to a late start and was followed by a long, mild summer. Growers who didn't limit yields struggled, bringing in fruit of uneven ripeness. Havens, who is known for his painstaking attention to his and his growers' vines, oversaw almost obsessive pruning and crop thinning levels, allowing the grapes to reach fabulous physiological ripeness.