STOP No it’s not hammer time - it’s Double Agent time!

A second Wine Club Only Merlot over 50% OFF.

Wine Spectator rated the 2021 vintage a 97-point “classic” for Napa Merlot. and Decanter’s own 2021 Napa report singled out Oak Knoll as one of the vintage’s standout regions.

Real ones know some of the best Merlot is coming out of here. Looking at you, Shifflet Ranch…

And this Merlots from this same 2021 vintage, same producer, but different Napa district has the goods, too. Earlier it was Yountville. Now it’s Oak Knoll. We couldn’t agree which one we liked more. So instead of fighting about it, we’re letting you run the side-by-side yourself.

Markham has long set the gold standard for Merlot in Napa. And their District series releases represent the very best of the lineup.

This one’s 100% estate fruit from Little Cannon Vineyard in Oak Knoll, made by Markham, one of Napa’s longest continually run wineries and a Merlot house since the early ’80s, back when they were only the 4th winery in the valley bottling it varietally. Winemaker Kimberlee Nicholls has led the program since 2001, one of the first women to hold that title in Napa.

Yes, we know what a certain 2004 movie did to Merlot’s reputation. It was so profound that Economists called it ‘The Sideways Effect’. Markham didn’t blink. Still doesn’t. And why would they?? Markham’s been a Merlot house since the early 80’s. As one of the Valley’s longest continually run wineries, they have never stopped innovating.

In the ‘80s, they were on the cutting edge as the 4th winery in Napa to produce Merlot and they set the bar for the varietal to this day.

Back in the 1800s, Jean Laurent founded the property, built a stunning Stone Cellar waaaaay before it was cool, and pushed the winery to adopt the newest technology of the day and oak cooperage which was not a common thing in Napa yet.

In 2001, they promoted Kimberlee Nicholls to Head Winemaker making her one of the first female head winemakers in Napa. She leads to this day and helps maintain a consistently high level of quality at every vintage.

Deep garnet, dark cherry compote and crushed plum up front, dried orange peel and tobacco leaf underneath, toasted cedar and clove on the swirl. On the palate: red currant, dark plum and boysenberry, fine tannins building gradually into baking spice and vanilla bean, finishing long with notes of cedar spice and black tea.

$68 SRP. $34 here. Grab the Yountville too and taste Napa’s two faces of Merlot side by side.

92 Points, Decanter - ”This is the District Series Merlot from Oak Knoll, identifiable by a label with the vintage in the upper right corner above the winemaker’s name, Kimberlee Nichols. This estate-grown Merlot is sourced from Little Cannon Vineyard in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley and aged for 18 months in 53% new French oak. It is an elegant, smooth Merlot with plump, juicy cherry and raspberry fruit, tobacco nuances and fine cedarwood spices. Medium-bodied and framed by a lovely line of saline-mineral tension and fine-grained tannins, it finishes with a lingering, fruit-driven persistence.”