Sterling Merlot - what happened in 1999?

[ekmetta]

I don't know much about wine, but I like to try different not-too-expensive Merlots. I've always liked the Sterling Vintners Collection merlot. But when I ordered a bottle of the 1999 last night, it was a dissapointment. Was 1999 a bad year for this wine -- 1997 and 1998 better?

[Innkeeper]

Hi Ekmetta, and welcome to the Wine Board. Have more experiance with Sterling Cabs than their merlots, but can offer a couple of guesses. First, the '99 might have been too young, that is not opened enough yet. Another possibility is that '99 was a off year for them with this grape. Most people would grade the three Napa Valley vintages in this order: '97, '99, and '98 last. Therefore, all other things being equal, the '99 should have been better than the '98.

[RAD]

Ekmetta,

Like IK, I too haven't had the 99 Sterling merlot, but my experience with 99 merlots thus far (Duckhorn, Shafer, and Pride on the high end, Bogle on the low end) has been very good. I'd second his hypothesis that perhaps the wine hasn't "opened up" yet. Or perhaps it's an off-bottle or year for Sterling.

RAD

[Thomas]

May I offer another opinion? You say only that the wine was a disappointment, not that it was bad or spoiled or had an identifiable flaw. Perhaps your taste preference for Merlot has simply moved on from Sterling's style.