Since 1883, five generations of our family have handcrafted fine wines that express the very best of our vineyards and winemaking expertise. Our Estate Grown Sandstone Merlot come from a gently sloping formation of hills running along the southeastern corner of the historic Livermore Valley. With warm days, cool nights, well-drained sandstone soils, and incoming breezes from the San Francisco Bay, the Wente family’s hillside vineyard is an ideal place to grow outstanding Merlot.
From the winemaker – “Our Sandstone Merlot is a great display of grapes coming from many hillside and valley floor vineyards, each of which give distinct aromatics and structure to the wine. The estate grown vineyards that make up this wine are fermented and aged separately in barrel for about a year before they are blended together. We add Petite Sirah and Petite Verdot to the blend which then ages for another 6 months. Although lighter in structure than a Cabernet Sauvignon, this Merlot combines solid, yet silky tannins with diverse fruit flavors to make a lasting impression.”
This vintage pairs nicely with rack or leg of lamb, lamb chops, roast pork, pork chops or tenderloin, veal with heartier vegetable and/or bean sauces or mushroom and/or wine sauces. Cheeses like Parmigiano, Romano and other hard cheeses as well as cheddar and other savory, firm cheeses.
Rating:
This wine was given a 87 point rating by Wine Enthusiast.
At Bridlewood, we like to take our time. We hand select our grapes from California’s vast Central Coast AVA, and we pour our passion into winemaking. Our tasting room sits on a picturesque 105-acre estate which rests on a high bench of ancient seabed, facing the Pacific breezes that meander through the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the Purisima Hills and San Raphael Mountains to the north. Days are warm, nights are cool and the abundant sunshine is tempered by wind and fog. This is Central Coast Wine Country at its best.
This 2011 Columbia Valley chardonnay has fruit forward flavors and plenty of natural acid. The growing season started a week late in blooming, but caught up as the perfect ripening weather lasted through September. The weather was not too hot, which allowed grapes to retain their natural acidity.
All of our Sonoma County Cabernet was harvested early in the cold mornings, then destemmed and moved to small, open top stainless steel tanks. There it fermented at moderate temperatures and macerated on the skins for an extended period of time. The wine was pressed off, settled 2 days and then racked to barrels for malolactic fermentation. This Cabernet spent 14 months aging in oak barrels and in tank; 45% new oak was used, half of that being American and half French oak.
The fruit for this Chardonnay is selected from the best vineyards in the Russian River Valley. Once harvested, the juice is fermented almost entirely in French oak barrels to add complexity and develop the rich fruit flavors. The wine is aged in these barrels for six months to preserve the wine’s vibrant fruit character.
Zinfandel is sometimes referred to as California’s own grape variety. Prized by Italian immigrants arriving in California in the early 1900’s, it was a popular choice for making their families traditional rich hardy style dry red wine.
Vine Types: What is a Clone?
Introduced in 1988 with the 1985 vintage, Pèppoli Chianti Classico DOCG is the archetypal modern Chianti Classico. In a departure from traditional Chiantis, Pèppoli combines the complexity and structure of a well-aged riserva with the fruity fragrance of a young wine. This style is made possible by a unique microclimate where east-northeast facing vineyards are planted in a small heat-retaining valley on mineral-rich rocky soils that are perfect for growing very fruity, lively Sangiovese. The wine further benefits from the use of better Sangiovese clones, severe grape bunch selection, delayed and cluster harvest when necessary.
Named after the Ghost Pines Vineyard purchased in 1964 by Napa’s historic Louis M. Martini Winery, Ghost Pines produces unique and contemporary wines from some of California’s premier appellations. Winemaker Michael Eddy enjoys the freedom to choose the best grapes he can find, regardless of AVA. Inspired by the free-form character of its namesake tree, Ghost Pines embodies the progressive spirit of California winemaking – “excellence has no boundaries.”
This is a 100% handcrafted wine that comes from a number of vineyards in both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. Vineyard sites are primarily Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley, French Camp Vineyard in Paso Robles, our own Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard in the Edna Valley (Demeter Certi#ed Biodynamic) and the organic Ibarra-Young Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley (a vineyard that we have farmed ourselves since 1986).
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