Ballentine Napa Valley Red Zin 05/750 Ml 750ml - 12140
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Ballentine Vineyards is consistently one of the best values in Napa Valley. They have owned prime vineyard land in this region since 1906 - paying for it with gold coins! Ballentine has been continuously operating a winery since the end of Prohibition. Bruce Devlin has been the winemaker at Ballentine Vineyards for over 20 years now, so he knows their vineyards intimately, These vines are planted in one of the warmest locations in the Napa Valley. This vineyard is ideal for ripening mature tannins and flavor in our Merlot grapes. 2018 was a good growing season, so the flavor and tannin development kept pace with sugar accumulation, creating excellent, well-balanced flavors and intense color. That gave this Merlot great concentration and a silky texture. The rockier soils of this vineyard site accentuated these attributes to bring about the highest quality grapes our vineyard can yield. The 2018 vintage was an outstanding Merlot vintage. Low yields and high quality surpassed our expectations. Picked to showcase the Merlot’s ripe flavors, we barrel fermented to dryness on the skins, and barrel aged for 17 months. This Merlot was so great on it’s own, it only required a splash of Cabernet Sauvignon, and the other blenders add the complexity in aromatics and palate.
