2017 Beringer Vineyards Bancroft Ranch Merlot Howell Mountain Napa Valley 750 ml

Cabernet lovers, collectors, and heavyweights, we need to talk about the greatest Merlot grown on Howell Mountain. If you’re serious about powerful reds you should have a bottle of this in your cellar. If we’re being all the way honest, you should have three. 

The Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot possesses an intensity and depth on the level of its powerful neighbors—Lokoya, Cardinale, and David Abreu’s La Jota—but unlike them, this touts a certain lavishness and supple richness that ONLY Merlot can deliver. 

In a lineup of Howell Mountain’s top wines (all Cabs except for this) the Bancroft Ranch Merlot shows up to the party clad in a velvet blazer while the rest don suits. It’s the reason Beringer, Napa’s first family of wine, has bottled this since 1987, and the reason you’d be remiss to hold back, especially at 29% off.

The latest release of this storied Merlot flaunts a stunning bouquet of super-ripe blackberry, cassis, and black plum, threaded with fresh violet, wild sage, and bay leaf. The palate is luxuriously textured and bursting with dark fruit, unfolding to smoked meat, cacao, and clove. There is a lot to hold up here, and the firm but velvety tannins do the job effortlessly, helped along by mouthwatering acidity from the cool nights 1,800 feet up on Howell Mountain. The finish, as one would expect from a wine of this caliber, is miles long. No surprise, coming from the iconic winery whose wines Robert Parker has called “exceptionally impressive.”

The power and richness that characterizes Bancroft Ranch Merlot is easily traced to the land itself. The rugged and rocky volcanic soil is well drained and nutrient-poor, putting stress on the vines and forcing them to compete for energy. The result is small, extremely concentrated grapes with high skin-to-juice ratios. In non-winespeak that translates to incredible depth of flavor, complexity, and well-structured, chewy tannins. 

The high-elevation vineyard is also cooler than the valley floor by as much as ten degrees, while it receives more sunlight per day due to its position above the fog line. Cool temperatures maintain mouthwatering acidity, freshness, and purity of fruit, but also allow the grapes to stay on the vine longer, soaking up an extraordinary amount of sunlight and yielding super-ripe Merlot. 

In the hands of Mark Beringer, the great-great-grandson of winery founder Jacob Beringer, Bancroft Ranch Merlot realizes its greatest expression. Aged in 50% new custom-toasted French oak for 20 months, the finished wine is seamless and polished like a gemstone. 

As good as it is, there’s very little to go around. We’re thrilled to have secured ten cases for Wine Access members today. They are among the few available on the retail market.