2000 El Mirador Merlot

[dananne]

El Mirador is a tiny Walla Walla outfit that uses Columbia Valley grapes for this one. Their Cab is a Walla Walla wine, though. They have a little place in the "airport wine ghetto," and we visited them on our trip last summer. At the time, we really liked their wines' P/Q, and this Merlot ran $99 for the case, with free shipping. Can't miss. Dark color in the glass, almost turning over to purple. Sweet red fruit aromas and flavors, particularly strawberry jam, framed with earthy notes, spices, and a finish that shows light vanilla. Some secondary characteristics like leather notes from the little bit of bottle age. Anne says she agrees with the above notes, but didn't get anything earthy. She also notes that this wine followed a margarita. 12.9% alc. This will be a nice daily drinking wine over the next year.

[Bucko]

Damn good price if it was even passable.

[dananne]

OK, so I lied. It obviously took more than a year to drink the case. The last two bottles went to the great beyond this weekend. Pretty amazing that they were still drinking fine, 10-yr old Merlots that we originally bought for about $8.33 per bottle. Well worth that case buy.

We're going to have to head out and visit Kathy again soon . . .

[chittychattykathy]

Get some dates goin! [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
Lots of new wineries to visit.