“Few people have as much experience and a resume as impressive as the ebullient Nils Venge.” – Robert Parker

Looking for a Merlot to beat up on your heavyweight Cabs?

This brings ALLLL that oomph, and then some. An absolute haymaker of a Merlot, built like a brick house full of sumo wrestlers.

The only thing lightened up here? The price. Normally $56 but we’re dropping it under $40 for the day.

If we haven’t been clear enough, this is a FULL THROTTLE, Big Baller Swaller pure OAKVILLE Merlot. It’s a 50-50 split of two stellar adjacent vineyards, the Saddleback Estate and Swanson, just behind Opus One. Muscular and rich, lavish, and concentrated. If you serve it to your dear Aunt Sally who normally lives on Barefoot Merlot, she will be SHOOK.

Of course, we always expect good things from Nils Venge and his Saddleback. The latter is a fixture in Oakville, around since the 1970s. Nils established his winery in the late ‘70s, on 14 prime acres. He then crafted the first ever perfect-scoring California wine - Groth’s ‘85 reserve Cab from his neighbor’s grapes. He also helped propel Charles Krug, Villa Mt. Eden, and Sterling Vineyards to the forefront of Napa’s wine scene. Maybe you grabbed some of that Cougar’s leap Zin we featured this week, or his Saddleback Cabernet not too long ago. Both serve as a testament to his skills.

This is more of the same Nils style: Lavishly oaked, with a rollicking tour de force of crushed blackberry, baked plums, baking spices, and Turkish figs. Quite the structure, too, with a sturdy but smooth tannic backbone holding it up. Give this one some breathing time before you serve it, and preferably do so with a fat chonk of steak alongside.

No reviews, yet, but that explains how you’re seeing it at this price. The 2018 vintage, well, is a sure bet in the right hands, and the closest one we remember this good was the 2010 that Vinous called “a serious Merlot… densely packed and lush in the mouth, with serious underlying structure…” Bingo!

What else can we say other than, get some while it’s up. Because Saddleback never lasts long around these parts!