2003 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon

Merus was founded in the late 1990s by the husband-and-wife team of Erika J. Gottl and Mark Herold in a two-car garage behind their house in the town of Napa. A true Napa Valley garagiste producer, the couple produced only one wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon that quickly earned acclaim as a cult Cab. In 2007 the couple sold Merus to Foley Family Wines, a conglomerate of more than 30 wineries in California and elsewhere headed by Florida businessman William Foley. Foley purchased an abandoned winery in Napa and today Merus has a state-of-the-art winery. The first Merus vintage, in 1998, earned 93 pts from Robert M. Parker Jr., and more recent vintages have earned scores in the high 90s from Parker and Wine Spectator.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,

One of the most widely grown grape varieties, it can be found in nearly every wine growing region. A cross between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a hardy vine that produces a full-bodied wine with high tannins and great aging potential.