Columbia Valley (Washington Merlot)

Columbia Valley Merlot is Washington State's serious answer to the grape: the wine that first put Washington on the fine-wine map, grown in a high-latitude, irrigated desert where long summer days and cold nights build ripe black plum and cherry over real tannic grip and a savoury, herb-tinged depth. Where cheap New-World Merlot is soft and simple, the Columbia Valley style is structured, dark-fruited and ageworthy — closer in spirit to Bordeaux's Right Bank than to a jammy varietal red.