Grgich Hills Estate, Napa Valley (California) Merlot 2012

If you think of California Merlot as soft but spineless, lacking both the complexity and power that distinguishes the state’s best reds, treat yourself to a bottle of this wine, from one of Napa’s most distinguished and consistently excellent producers.  It overflows with flavor — berry fruit to be sure, but also herbs, spice, dark chocolate, and more.  It also exhibits superior length, lingering and evolving on your palate long after you’ve swallowed it.  In short, it’s outstanding.  Yes, it’s something of an anomaly in California.  But that’s not because Merlot as a variety is in any sense deficient.  It’s instead because so many winemakers treat it shabbily.  Thank goodness that Grgich Hills does not.