The 2021 Merlot lifts from the glass with a pretty mix of blue- and purple-toned florals that complement ripe blueberries. It's lifted and energetic, with crisp red and blue fruits further enhanced by cooling acidity as a...

Now in its third vintage, the Castello dei Rampolla 2020 Liù is a fine and impeccably detailed wine. You taste bright fruit, cherry and dusty limestone with incredible focus, as if these things were under a microscope...

Made with 100% Merlot, the Castello dei Rampolla 2021 Liù shows a note of spice and dried herb that frame a dark core of fruit. The wine is rich in appearance, but the mouthfeel remains elegantly slender and polished...

This wine is rich, with aromas of dark cherry, red currant confiture, clove, dried flowers and dried bay leaf on the nose. The flavors on the palate are blackberry coulis, dark plum and black tea, interlaced with cocoa...

Black olives with some fresh basil and lemongrass aromas that follow through to a medium body with a juicy center palate. Savory and delicious. A little simple this year but well done for the vintage. Drink now.

Another beautiful wine as well as a smoking value, the 2021 Merlot Blueline Estate (75% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, and tiny amounts of Petit Verdot and Malbec) has lots of up-front plum and black cherry fruits...

Deep red with magenta highlights, the 2020 Messorio is the most complete of these wines aromatically on opening and seems to disprove the idea that Merlot is struggling in this region as climate change takes its hold...

The 2022 Merlot is remarkably pretty, as a bouquet of violet flowers, lavender, hints of sweet spice and sugar-dusted blackberries wafts up for the glass. This is soothingly round and pure in style, with a perfumed mix of...

Gutsy yet refined, this red balances a broad-shouldered structure with rich, multilayered flavors of blackberry and currant. Offers accents of licorice and espresso while building tension toward big yet balanced tannins...

The aromas of black currants, graphite, lavender and violets are gorgeous. Black olives and walnuts, too. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins, a racy texture and small black berry-like flavors. Iron undertones as well...

A 70-30 blend of fruit from Napa and Sonoma, the 2019 Merlot includes 9% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose offers up hints of mint, cherry tomatoes and redcurrants, plus some riper notions of cherries and raspberries, while...

Plums and cherries accented by chunks of dark chocolate and a spiced finish, build a richly flavored and mouthwatering Merlot with a velvety textured, balanced acidity and a lot of persistence. Savory and satisfying. —...

Silky and plush, this red leans to the elegant side, featuring black cherry, blackberry, vanilla, iron and toasty oak aromas and flavors. Harmonious and well-structured, with polished tannins emerging on the long...

Museums are nearly always beautiful, but they are rarely warm--for that you need a lived-in space rather than a staged one, a private collection in a home. There's something about the Tenuta Sette Ponti Sette that always...