The Wine Fairy

Every bottle of Meeker‘s “Winemakers’ Handprint” Merlot is marked by the winemaker with acrylic paint. Fingerprints grasp the curves of the bottle in neon smears of fuschia and yellow, wrapping the glass in a handshake–or reaching out from the shelf in a friendly wave.

The handprint is meant to remind drinkers that wine is made by people. Lately, I haven’t needed that reminder.

One of the most surreal elements of my new wine life is that I meet winemakers all the time and taste their wines with them. As a casual wine lover, this was a rare privilege–a lucky encounter on a winery tour, for instance–but these days, it’s several times a month.

I have a lot to learn. I’m learning to taste as a buyer (not just as a drinker) and to refine the way I talk about wine publicly. It’s exciting, but it feels fraught.

I have to try to understand a wine in 30 seconds while standing next to the person who knows everything there is to know about that particular bottle. I have to match sensation to language, while also thinking about all the relationships between maker, market, and consumer. I have to resist the urge to go mute, or to default to praise. Wine is no longer just artistic or technical–it also becomes social, economic, and very human.

And so, without further digression, the handprint wine.

Charlie and Molly Meeker established their first vineyard in Dry Creek Valley in 1984 with Charlie as the winemaker. Their son, Lucas, is now head winemaker. (Father and son shared a custom-molded paint tray for years. Charlie passed away in 2021, so the handprint on my bottle is most likely Lucas’s.) The small family winery produces wines in an ambitious range of styles–the Merlot is a best-seller–and maintains a tasting room in Healdsburg.

Tasting “Winemakers’ Handprint” Merlot

“Handprint” is all or nearly all Merlot, depending on the vintage. It’s based on fruit from two vineyards (in Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley) that the family has been sourcing since the 1990s. It’s big, bold, and meant to age, described by the winery as “eye-catching on the shelf and of course palate-grabbing in your glass.”

It’s deep ruby and opaque, with a totally rad nose of black fruit, spices, and a savory character that belies its young age. Blackberries (fresh and jammy) burst forth, accompanied by soy sauce, tomato leaf, and Szechuan peppercorn. Red berries, chocolate, and vanilla show up, too–a nod to the gentler side of Merlot-hood.

The ripe blackberry-blackcurrant aromas precede (surprise!) a gut-punch of tartness. The body is lighter than expected, with acid and tannins holding up the whole tent. It’s a sharp, assertive wine, almost the inverse of stereotypical Merlot mellowness.

Fruit is concentrated, acid is crazy-high, the palate is borderline salty. Sour cherry and pickled black plums lead each puckering, saline sip. The 14.8% alcohol hums along, undetectable beneath the palate noise. I tried decanting the wine for a couple of hours to see if some oxygen might help it simmer down and expand, but to no obvious effect.

Drink or keep? My hunch is that this really could be quite age-worthy. It’s powerfully structured with some fascinating savory development in progress. But at four years old, the acid is still throwing toddler tantrums.

The hand-painted label is gorgeous. The wine inside is promising. Personally, I’d admire the bottle on the shelf for a few more years before popping off that wax seal.

Bottle: Meeker Wine “Winemakers’ Handprint” Sonoma County Merlot (2022) – California

Variety: Merlot

ABV: 14.8%

Suggested retail: $58

My rating: 8.9 (out of 10)

Further reading:

Meeker Wine: How to Handprint: The Story of Our Winemaker’s Handprint Merlot

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.

On Thursdays, we Merlot! See past #MerlotThursday reviews.