A blend of primarily Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with smaller portions Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, the wine was aged for 22 months in nearly all new French oak prior to bottling. The palate is soft, round and elegant, coming off as a top warm vintage Pomerol from 2009 or perhaps 2003. A deep core of dark fruits greet you, but the weightless texture is even more impressive. (Drink between 2021-2038)

The 2018 Epinette is the Merlot-dominated release from this team, and it's 79% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot, all from the estate vineyard on Red Mountain. Lots of smoky black cherry and darker currant fruits as well as notes of chocolate, graphite, lead pencil, and chalky minerality emerge from the glass, and this full-bodied beauty is beautifully textured, with a stacked mid-palate, velvety tannins, and a blockbuster finish. It's up with the finest Merlots in the New World and will drink brilliantly for at least a decade, if not longer.

The 2018 Épinette is Merlot-dominated, with the addition of 8% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. It bursts from the glass with aromas of plums, chocolate-covered cherries and black raspberry before offering complex layers of minerality, purple flowers and elegant baking spices. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is deliciously balanced and displays fruit captured at optimum ripeness levels, offering energetic acidity and lifting tannins across the mid-palate. The wine concludes with a long, silky finish that emphatically shows Washington Merlot can be a powerhouse. This was made from 100% free-run juice that rested in 70% brand-new French barriques. Only 250 cases were produced. Bravo!- AM

Saturated dark ruby to the rim! Brooding, almost inky scents of blackberry, boysenberry, licorice, tree bark, black pepper and graphite. Suave, fine-grained and remarkably intense on entry, conveying a sexy savory quality and a dark chocolatey sweetness to its surprisingly supple dark berry, licorice and spice cake flavors. This dense, harmonious blend is at once serious and suave, finishing with well-integrated tannins and terrific rising flavors of dark berries, bitter chocolate and minerals. Despite containing a markedly higher percentage of Merlot than the 2017 version, this hardly lacks for structure. This flamboyant wine could be enjoyed now but has the energy and stuffing for mid-term aging. -- Stephen Tanzer