Arrowood, Grand Archer, Merlot, 2000
This is a wine that our sister-in-law had purchased years ago, and we had it following the Chateauneuf-du-Pape for our Thnksgiving feast. Being an Oregonian, it was hard to want to like this commercial California wine. But I have to admit, this wine knocked the doors off the CndP we had preceeding it (though, to be fair, it was one of the poorest CndPs I've had). Anyway, this was not that. And, honestly, it was nice.
The nose was vanilla, and a strong river rock smell. Later, the nose got a bit more funky: cayenne, tobacco, prune, smoky, raisin, and white pepper. The taste was prune and tobacco. Really strong smoke, sort of like Grandpa's pipe. Denise went off on this. She described it like a "thick button down sweater by the fire place hearth". The finish was also tobacco and prune, and a little raisin to boot.
All-in-all, this was the favorite of the night.
Cost:
Rating:
8.5