97 Wine Review Online

The vineyard takes its name from the three palm trees that arise in the middle of this rather warm part of Napa Valley. The 2011 vintage was unusually cool for Napa, which resulted in a spectacular Three Palms Merlot. Wonderfully aromatic, it’s a firm, young wine, with a riveting tension between fruitiness and herbal qualities. The tannins are fine, not aggressive, and provide perfect structure and balance. It expands it the glass, with layers of herbal earthy nuances, not just fruit flavors. Indeed, it’s the non-fruit elements that set this wine apart. This tightly wound wine, which stops you in your tracts now, should evolve beautifully over the next decade, so there’s no rush to pull the cork.- Michael Apstein/ Apr 8, 2014

93 Connoisseurs Guide to Wine

The best Merlots are wines that charm in their youths but grow in breadth and gain complexity as the years pass, and this one from Duckhorn is a wine that is nowhere near reaching its best even if it is easy to like and shows impressive range even now. It is fully grounded in the rich, cherry-like qualities that define good Merlot, and it is well-balanced, weighty and seductively supple in feel. It teases with complexing touches of toast, sweet cream, graphite and mint that will be amplified as it ages, and, its very considerable immediate appeals noted, it deserves to be hidden away for no fewer than another half-dozen years.

91 Wine Spectator

Impressively structured, with floral aromas of black cherry, toasty spice and cedar, and dense, layered flavors of red currant, dried herb and spice. An excellent Merlot in a tough vintage.