The days are ending very early on this side of the world right now. It was time to start thinking about adding a little bit of winter weight. I generally stick to sweet potatoes when cooking at home, but I was accidently delivered some regular white potatoes this week. However, this worked out perfectly as I still had plenty of duck fat left in the fridge from the duck I roasted a few weeks earlier. I let my husband choose the wine this time and then I set to work.
My husband chose a Merlot from the wine fridge to pair with the duck fat potatoes. We picked this particular bottle up during a winery tour the previous spring. Visiting Hightower vineyards was really something beautiful. This was the first winery we visited on our trip and we were happy to find out that they were dog friendly since we had all of our dogs with us. The winery even had a yellow lab as the specified and beloved “Winery Dog.” It was too cute!
This Merlot was all grown in the Pepper Bridge vineyard of the Walla Walla Valley appellation. This vineyard is known for producing wine with lots of cherry flavors. Cherry is usually off-putting to me. I suffer from having had too much disgusting cherry cough medicine as a child. Don’t worry. I’m working through it.
This wine was from Richland, Washington and sampled on November 17, 2019. I was listening to “Dammit” by Ruston Kelly. There was a deep ruby color to this wine. The smells coming from the glass were a little bit of spice and quite a bit of cherry. With a medium body and low acidity, it was easily drinkable right off the bat. Cherry tastes were high, but not overpoweringly so. It kind of had a “wet” feel to it. It didn’t leave the mouth dry at all.
I gave this wine a rating of 3. After all was said and done, it was still a bit too much cherry for me to deal with and felt like an average wine overall.
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