1997 Lewis Cellars Merlot

Lewis Cellars in Oakville, Napa Valley, was founded in 1992 by Debbie and Randy Lewis. They own no vineyards but source their grapes from Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, Oak Knoll, Carneros and the Russian River Valley. The estate produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Total production is 9,000 cases annually. The Lewises originally hired Paul Hobbs as winemaker, but today the winemaker is Brian Mox. California wine writer James Laube has written that all the estate’s wines “are of unusually high quality.”

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.