Happy #MerlotThursday, wherever you happen to be imbibing! The Wine Fairy is at home, where I’m about to take a gander (sorry) at today’s wine, the “g3” Merlot from Goose Ridge Estate Vineyard.
With 1800 acres under vine, Goose Ridge is the largest contiguous estate vineyard in Washington state. It sits between the Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain AVAs, with sloping, mostly north-northeast facing vineyards. The 2021 was the first vintage bottled after the new Goose Gap AVA was approved. (The appellation contains just one winery. For the wine-obsessed, I think having your own AVA would be the ultimate status symbol…even better than a EuroCave.)
It pours up a deep ruby with a wide cranberry rim. Punchy aromas of fresh red cherry, redcurrant jam, and red plum laced with spiced chocolate and crispy gingersnap. Big fruit and big alcohol on the nose. (The label on my bottle says 13.6% ABV, which surprised me. But the producer’s website says it’s 14.2%, and the two adjacent vintages were clocked at 14.5%…that’s closer to how it tastes.)
Once acclimated to the heat, I settle in for an intensely flavored wine with all dimensions of red cherries: Sour cherry compote, dried Bing cherry, and cherry yogurt. A hint of boysenberry heaps on even more depth to the red fruit. It’s almost full in body with bright acidity and a medium finish with spicy flavors of red beet, cedar, and rye toast. Those tart cherry flavors really drive the palate, but there’s much more going on here: The earthy flavor of purple carrots, a bite of ginger/galangal, an elusive whiff of creamy Andes mint-chocolate.
This juicy goose is extremely well-priced and full of vibrant fruit from young-ish vines. It has great potential as a Thanksgiving wine, where its fresh autumnal flavors would be a marvelous partner to cornbread stuffing, mushrooms, and roasted fowl. (I drank it with artichoke pizza and hot wings and that was also a meal to remember.)
Goose Ridge’s “g3” is made from 100% estate-grown grapes. It’s primarily Merlot at 94%, with a little Cab mixed in for aromatic intensity. Aged for 15 months in oak barrel, 25% new.
Bottle: Goose Ridge “g3” Merlot (2021) – Goose Gap AVA, Columbia Valley, Washington
Variety: Merlot (94%), Cabernet Sauvignon (6%)
ABV: 14.2%
Suggested retail: $15
My rating: 8.9 (out of 10)
Further reading:
Washington Wine: Goose Gap AVA
Goose Ridge Estate Winery: Our Land
Pour yourself a Merlot and join in! Or, see past #MerlotThursday reviews here.
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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