St. Francis Reserve Merlot

St. Francis Reserve Merlot 2012: The abundant success of the 2012 vintage led St. Francis, a Sonoma winery since 1971, to decide to develop a Reserve Tier to be offered only to restaurants for their wine lists. Along with a zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon comes this lovely merlot, which corrects all the bashing that this Bordeaux varietal has received the past couple decades.

St. Francis actually planted the first merlot in Sonoma, and the grapes from this bottling largely come from estate vineyards all farmed sustainably. Nineteen percent Malbec gets blended in to add complexity and depth, and the wine is very luscious in the mouth, with plenty of dark fruits and some herb and spice, yet it’s surprisingly smooth, too.

There’s no doubt they made this wine to match with food: anything from a pork loin to lamb burgers.

See stfranciswine.com.