1978 Clos du Val Merlot

Clos du Val was founded by John Goelet, a New York businessman, in 1972 in the Stag’s Leap District of Napa Valley. Bernard Portet was the founding winemaker, and he was responsible for much of the winery’s rise in reputation in the 1970s and 1980s. He retired in 2010. The winery owns 320 acres in Stag’s Leap and Carneros, and is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Portet was among the first winemakers in the region to use Merlot to soften California Cabernet Sauvignon, and his wines were known for their elegance and finesse. Today Clos du Val’s winemaker is John Clews, and the winery continues to earn acclaim for its wine. Wine & Spirits Magazine named it Winery of the Year in 2010. The winery’s signature wine is the Stag’s Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon.

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.