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2005 Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley
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4.27 average rating 11 ratings – rate it
Expert Ratings
CG 88
ST 88
WS 82

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Product Details

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About Duckhorn Vineyards

Founded in 1976 by Santa Rosa native Dan Duckhorn, Duckhorn Vineyards was one of California's standard-setters for Merlot in the early 1980s. Over the years, Duckhorn has expanded both its output and its vineyard holdings, with seven estate vineyards on Howell Mountain and the Napa Valley floor and four vineyards in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County. Though production is high in volume (100,000-plus cases/year) it remains high in quality.

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2005 Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley

Producer: Duckhorn Vineyards
Style: Red Wine
Grape Type: Merlot
Origin: California
Region: Napa

Expert Reviews

88 Points | Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine
88 Points | International Wine Cellar , May/June 2008

($52) Good deep red-ruby. Dark berries, sweet oak and a minty nuance on the nose. Suave and fine-grained, with slightly edgy but essentially supple flavors of redcurrant, mocha, graphite and oak. Finishes with substantial fine, dusty tannins and good length.

82 Points | Wine Spectator

Member Ratings

Your Rating & Review
11 Member Ratings
Average Member Rating:
4.27 out of 5 stars
     
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Member Notes

Merlot Standard
01/29/2010
by Zoueihed13645473
I absolutely love this Merlot and cannot say enough about it. No matter the Vintage, Duckhorn always seems to have a winning Merlot. The most recent Vintage I have tasted is the 2005 and was very impressed. Smooth, complex and a long finish. What more can one ask for!
Excellent
03/07/2008
by chadha12655613
I had the Duckhorn last night and it was excellent. Very smooth and easy to drink. Very well balanced
Very Good but not Great
05/13/2008
by MacDougall12431382
As a somewhat youngish merlot (notwithstanding the blenders like Cab Sauv) I found it a bit of a contradiction. Deep garnet colour underscores its youth but the tannins are soft and acid hard to detect. I did, however, find it food friendly in a generic sense but would not pair it with rare beef. A fruit bomblet, it is indeed rich and voluptuous but the finish is oddly short and in the end a tad unbalanced. Duckhorn did a good job but for the price tag I would expect more structure.

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About Napa Valley

Napa Valley is the most famous wine-growing area in the U.S. It begins at the base of Mount St. Helena in the north and tapers off some 30 miles to the south into the floodplain where the Napa River enters San Francisco Bay. From Mount St. Helena to the city of Napa, the valley is defined by two north-south ridgelines of the Coast Range Mountains.
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Varietal Image
Merlot

Merlot enjoyed a surge in popularity in the 1990s as consumers suddenly discovered that they could enjoy aromas and flavors similar to those of Cabernet in a fleshier, softer wine with smoother tannins. A wave of Merlot plantings followed, frequently in soils and microclimates completely inappropriate for this variety, and the market was soon...
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