Sterling

Vintage: 1995

Producer: Sterling

Appellation: Napa Valley

Vineyard: Three Palms Vineyards

Grape : Merlot

Bottle Size: Magnum

On My Palate:

Toasted toffee. Black fruit. Earth. Lead, focused oak. Masculine. A little green bell pepper keeps the wine fresh. Very inviting, open mouthfeel. Surprisingly delicious and drinking very well now.

The Dregs:

Magnums aren’t just awesome because they’re big; they are also the perfect-sized house for wine, like upgrading from a studio to a two bedroom with a backyard. Wine from 750 milliliter bottles often tastes cooped up and disjointed upon pouring, an issue exacerbated by age.

This wine out of magnum was literally humming, as if it spent the last fourteen years stretched out on a king size bed listening to Billy Holiday vinyls, watching hummingbirds lick cactus nectar outside its window.

The table that brought this wine in visited Sterling and called the winery a “resort.” Sterling is certainly on the ground floor of classic Napa Valley—the “Napa Valley Resort Area,” as roadsides on the CA128 aptly pronounce.

The best part about the big guns is that they do make reliable wines, as showcased here. This wine still tasted fresh and young and was untainted by wildcard flaws that are too often labeled as “complexities.”

Where:

In the back banquet kitchen, dodging banquet prep cooks. There is no tableside tasting per corporate policy.