2019 Clos de Betz - 1.5L

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The Merlot-dominated 2019 Clos de Betz shows a brilliant magenta rim leading to a dark ruby core.  The aromatic acrobatics shout Merlot: black and red cherries, pomegranate, fresh herbs and cocoa powder leap from the glass, with leather, tobacco, sage and emerging with air. The palate is characteristically weighty and dense while also displaying the precision and detail of the vintage.  Flavors of black and red raspberry, dark plum, black licorice and candied orange sail into a long-lived and mouthwatering finish with great mineral tension.  This Clos de Betz manages to combine elegance, intensity and vibrancy into a succulent package for a wine so young, but will still offer 10+ years of marvelous drinking.

Robert Parker 94 Pts.

Clos de Betz honors Bob and Cathy Betz’s earliest dreams of starting a winery. In 1973, they stood before one of the foremost temples of French Pinot Noir, the Burgundian vineyard Clos de Beze, struck by the profound way it could exemplify both a sense of place and the purity of its grape variety. They resolved that they would one day produce a wine that manages to convey that ever-elusive but magical marriage of site character and varietal expression. Washington Merlot, with its singular dance of weighty richness and structured minerality, provided the perfect canvas and has formed the core of Clos de Betz since its first vintage in 1998.