Del Roba Vineyard Merlot

The Del Roba Vineyard Merlot from Napa’s Coombsville AVA won the 2024 International Volcanic Wine Award by Wine and Spirit Magazine.

It’s a distinctive Merlot! Notes of black fruit (blackberry, black plum) with a long finish and a unique taste sensation. I couldn’t describe it at the time but the review by Dave’s Wines of the Napa Wine Project that described it like this: The tannins are gravelly and persist in tandem with the fruit on the finish offering a subtle chalky character.

Indeed, it was the chalky minerality that helped the fruit linger for the long finish.

Here’s the review by Dave’s Wines in full: https://www.napawineproject.com/del-roba-vineyard/

The Del Roba Merlot paired well with steak but it also paired well with a Japanese agedashi tofu and shishito peppers. (Agedashi tofu is tofu coated with potato starch and fried.)