Preview to Napa Trip - Duckhorn 2003 Napa Valley Merlot

I think my blog will get more exciting in a couple of days as I go on my vacation in New York, then San Francisco/Napa/Sonoma, then Washington DC in the span of two weeks. I will be going to some wine tasting, some fancy dinners, spending time with family, little Bonbu and bunch of good friends. However, before then, I allowed myself to preview wines that I might be drinking when I am in Napa, like the Duckhorn Vineyard 2003 Napa Valley Merlot, which we plan on visiting.

I think a good thing about many American wines is the intense fruit flavors that emanates from the glass. On average, I would say that New World wines tend to be exhibit more fruit than Old World wines, and especially American wines. This Duckhorn 2003 Merlot was no exception, as the wine tasted young and exhibits lots of dark fruit characteristics. Note of sweet plum and blackberry, with intense fruit concentration on the palate. Not a complex wine, fairly easy to drink and felt like silk on the tongue. You will notice oak in there that provided the wine with another dimension, but I thought the oak was not as nicely integrated as it could be into the wine to enhance the wine’s complexity, but instead, it is more of a little bit of a standoffish taste within the glass. However, the wine is still very good to drink, and the standoffish oak is not that apparent and it did provide another flavor to the wine. The intense fruit persisted from the beginning to the end, even though the finish was a little lacking. Generally a good wine, but it does not particularly stand out. I would give it a B, while Wine Spectator gave it a 89.