Boudreaux Cellars Merlot 06

This Merlot is made in a less than 200 case lot, and is extremely limited.

A monster Merlot, built for Bordeaux fans. Cherry cola, new leather, plum, shade leaf tobacco, and cinnamon are wrapped around a dense core of red and black cherries. There's a sappy note that makes you think black strap molasses, mingling with a nice touch of cedary oak on the finish. Like the Cab, the Boudreaux Merlot has a huge frame that will flesh out over the next 5-7 years in the cellar.

Previous Vintage Tasting Notes

2004 Vintage Tasting Notes

The Leonetti influence is clear here as in the Cab, with luscious black fruit, dark chocolate, toast, briary tannins that add complexity, and a long, long finish. Still a bit tight, needs decanting to drink now or cellarable for 6-8 years.

Having lost all of our usual Walla Walla Valley fruit in the 2004 freeze we were challenged to build a merlot which paralleled the 2003 wine. Fortunately two great vineyards stepped up for us. Bacchus, part of the venerable Sagemoor Farms and Desert Hills, the Den Hoed family farm on Snipes Road near Grandview provided us with beautiful merlot grapes. The Bacchus Vineyard Columbia valley fruit is deep, dark and classic. We have some of the best rows in Block 8. Todd Cameron and Kent Waliser, Boudreaux addicts, made sure we got the good stuff. The Desert Hills Block 52 (a good year) was planted in the Yakima Valley in 1987 on the very shallow soils over sandstone. Andy Den Hoed and Brett Calhoun produced fruit for us with bright elegant acidity, a perfect counter-balance for the deep ripeness of the Bacchus fruit. For fifteen months I topped these barrels with syrah just to add a faint hint of cinnamon-pepper to the recipe. The oak regime was fifty percent neutral French and Minnesota oaks.