Cecil DeLoach has been farming the Russian River Valley for over 40 years and was among a small group of vintners that helped define this area as one of America’s premier growing regions. This Merlot was made from vines grown at Cecil’s Los Amigos Ranch, a vineyard in the Chalk Hill district of the Russian River Valley.

Upon arriving from the vineyard, this Merlot is gently destemmed and crushed before being moved to tank to begin fermentation. During this process, we carefully return fermenting wine onto its own “cap” of grape skins to extract all of the color, flavors and tannins. We then press the remaining skins, and the resulting wine is aged for approximately 18 months in a combination of 20 hand-selected American and European oak barrels. Deep Garnet in color, notes of clove and cedar highlight the bouquet of this Merlot. A complex palate of juicy raspberries and dry cocoa with very light tannins leads to a lingering cherry spice finish.