90+ Stephen Tanzer - Vinous Media

Bright red-ruby. Black cherry, sage, menthol and an intriguing tarry/chocolatey nuance on the nose; a bit youthfully medicinal. Densely packed and fine-grained, with lovely inner-mouth floral lift to its cherry/berry flavors. Fairly tight, high-pitched and wiry for young Merlot, this wine needs time to unwind. No easy sweetness here, but very good intensity and lift. Tannins are firm but not dry or hard. This wine is very different in style from the 2017, which I also liked very much; this is more about sweeter berries while the earlier vintage showed more game and black olive wildness. And this is less full but tighter and more penetrating.