Deep red-ruby. Very ripe, slightly medicinal aromas of kirsch, black raspberry and licorice. Dense, powerful and dark in the mouth, with a slightly tough quality to the mulberry and licorice flavors. Finishes with good length, but the wine's serious tannic spine and a late peppery quality leave the finish a bit rigid today. Will this tightly coiled, very primary wine unwind with several years in bottle? Chris Figgins notes that very hot weather from mid-June to July was harder on the merlot in 2009 than it was on the cabernet sauvignon, and that the merlot struggled to achieve physiological ripeness.