Dry Creek Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley (Sonoma County, California) Merlot 2014

Dry Creek Vineyard’s Merlot is a deep, dark red wine that’s deliciously lush and rich, with ripe but not overly extracted fruit flavors, plus light, dusty tannins and a generous finish.  The beautifully balanced 2014 vintage includes 78% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot.  Dry Creek also deserves a shout-out for supplying a generous amount of basic information on the bottle’s front label describing the vineyards and their soils (“low-vigor, gravelly, iron-rich”), plus brief data about the barrels, the harvest dates, and fermentation specifics.  Despite this wealth of information the label does not seem cluttered — on the contrary, it’s clean and easy-to-read.  Not everyone will care about the data of course, but for consumers who understand that a little knowledge can enhance the wine drinking experience Dry Creek does a great job in helping to educate us all.