2019 Hundred Knot Merlot Napa Valley 750 ml

Few appellations in Napa Valley carry as much weight as Oakville. Tucked into the heart of the Valley between the Mayacamas and the Vaca Range, it’s the address of some of the most sought-after wines in the world—and a vineyard source that winemakers spend careers trying to access. This Merlot was made by Tim Milos, one of the Valley’s most decorated consulting winemakers, from fruit grown on coveted Oakville ground.

Milos came up at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and Opus One before heading the cellar at S. Anderson Vineyard, where his first releases earned a spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100. He’s been consulting across Napa, Sonoma, and Oregon since 2004, and has earned 100-point scores from both Wine Advocate and Jeb Dunnuck along the way. His approach is consistent: minimalist and terroir-driven, keeping the cellar’s footprint small so the vineyard can come forward.

The 2019 growing season rewarded patience. A wet winter replenished the water table, a mild spring gave way to a warm and even summer with few heat spikes, and harvest stretched into late October at an unhurried pace. The result was richer and more classically Napa than the more structured 2018s—wines with darker fruit, softer tannins, and a rounded generosity well-suited to a variety like Merlot.

Oakville’s benchland soils—gravelly alluvium built up over millennia by runoff from the Mayacamas and Vaca ranges—drain almost perfectly, stressing vines just enough to concentrate flavor without limiting ripeness. Marine air pushing in from San Pablo Bay each afternoon moderates the growing season and preserves freshness, creating a consistent thread of structure in wines grown here regardless of variety.

Merlot thrives on slow, even ripening, and Oakville’s moderate growing season delivers exactly that—warm days building richness, cool nights locking in aromatic lift. Milos aged this wine 18 months in French oak at 25% new, enough to add structure and depth without obscuring the vineyard beneath layers of wood. The wine has had six years to settle into itself, and shows it.

Hundred Knot is the flagship label of RD Winery, the first Vietnamese-owned winery in Napa Valley, focused on sourcing from respected sites across Napa and Sonoma.