Wente Sandstone Merlot 2020
Reviewed on April 14, 2023
Merlot often gets a bad rap. Think back to the movie Sideways when the main character Miles was on the hunt for the perfect California Pinot Noir. While he was singing the praises of Pinot Noir, he was putting down Merlot. It was a scapegoat and didn’t deserve the beating it received in that film. The Wente Sandstone Merlot is from the Central Coast. It is what I think of when I think of a well balanced Merlot - plush flavours of raspberry, plum and black cherry with velvety smooth tannins.
Wente is located in the Livermore Valley in the Central Coast AVA (that stands for American Viticultural Area). It is directly east of San Francisco. Napa and Sonoma Valley are just to north of it. There are over 40 wineries and the Wente was one of the first.