2013 World's End Little Sister Reserve Merlot

World’s End is another tradition-defying winemaking venture from Jonathan Maltus, the English vigneron behind Château Teyssier and Le Dome, his highly praised St.-Émilion red. World’s End wines are sourced from prestigious vineyards located on Napa Valley’s west facing slopes and from the valley floor. Maltus took the name World’s End from a district in Chelsea, London, where he and his wife Lyn first lived. And since 2008 he has been producing single-vineyard Napa wines that combine French-inspired winemaking with Napa terroir. An iconoclast since he bought Château Teyssier in 1994 and started shaking up the staid St.-Émilion wine world, Maltus continues his rebel ways at World’s End, naming each wine after a famous a rock ‘n roll song and offering quotes on his bottles from such musical icons as Bob Marley and Van Morrison. Maltus’ Napa wines have earned him his usual highly complimentary reviews. Reviewing the World’s End 2010 Syrah and Cabernet Franc blend at 95 pts, Robert Parker noted that “Maltus marches to the beat of a different drummer and clearly has something special on his hands.”

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,

The Merlot grape is such a deep blue that it is named for the blackbird. It’s an early ripening grape and one of the primary varietals used In Bordeaux. Merlot is also grown in the "International style," which is harvested later to bring out more tannins and body.