Each week we drink a different Merlot, and sometimes we drink it in a cool place! Today’s #MerlotThursday wine is a special one indeed, because I got to enjoy it at the winery with the winemaker.
Do vineyard vistas make the wine taste better? Of course they can. But Peter Cellars’ Estate Merlot is excellent, and it’s not just me who thinks so: This 2019 vintage won a “Best In Class” Merlot award and Double Gold medal at last year’s SF Chronicle Wine Competition.
It’s my first time visiting Sonoma Valley and it’s a gray December day. I’m sitting on the crush pad at Peter Cellars with the fire pits blazing. Peter Mauel, who owns this small vineyard and winery, is pouring some of his reds (and a rosé) for a small international tour group.
I’m trying to take notes on the wines–but that task is complicated by four adorable blond dogs who keep bumping into me, shoving their noses under my writing hand and imperiling the wineglasses with broad sweeps of their tails.
We have traveled along El Camino Real from San Francisco. The hills are misty, green, and scenic–but all along the highway, there are acres of black grapes withering on the vine. Their 2025 crop is not worth the cost of picking, our driver tells us.
But before this post drifts into more worried musings about the state of the wine business…let’s drink some Merlot instead, okay? (Thank you, puppies, for your contribution to this tasting note.)
Positively bursting with flavor, this hand-harvested Los Carneros Merlot melds juicy berries with sophisticated layers of oak and spice. Pronounced aromas of vanilla bean, soft raspberry, and Morello cherry. A nose that’s fruity upfront resolves into a complex botanical mix of toasted chicory, cinnamon, ancho pepper, light cola, and light mint. Medium-bodied with bright acidity. It’s completely dry on the palate with broad, drying tannins and persistent flavors of fresh cherry skins. Aged two years in French oak barrels (40% new).
Peter Cellars has a small annual production of around 2300 cases (according to tour guide Paul). All of it goes to wine club members, tasting room visitors, and a few local restaurants and shops. Yield management, hand harvesting and sorting, extended cold maceration, and an obsessive barrel selection program are a few of the production choices that make this family winery stand out.
Besides the vibrant Merlot, our group was also delighted with two other of Peter Cellars’ estate wines. They are vineyard cousins: The 2020 Carneros Pinot Noir and the 2023 Carneros Rosé of Pinot.
Elegant but with great fruit intensity, both are characterized by bushels of ripe strawberry, crushed rose, and orange zest. (I bought a bottle of the rosé for my checked luggage–but it didn’t make it as far as the airport. We busted into it with new friends before heading back to the city.)
Bottle: Peter Cellars Carneros Estate Merlot (2019) – Los Carneros (Sonoma), California
Variety: Merlot
ABV: I didn’t catch it. (Dogs!)
Suggested retail: $48
My rating: 9.3 (out of 10)
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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