Lewis Cellars, Merlot, Napa Valley

Outstanding!

2016 vintage

A very nice merlot. Needed about an hour after opening to really shine- dark cherry, mint, and a kiss of oak. Incredibly smooth and silky texture, Last bottle 🥲

2016 vintage

Opened last night and the color was dark, ruby red with a baking spice nose. This wine tasted a little off because I tried it right away. After a couple hours of decant, wonderful flavors, of blackberry, blueberry, some spice and other dark notes came through. My original thought was that this wine is moving past it's window of drinkability, but with enough decanting, it did fine. The tannins were almost resolved. I do think the window is closing on …

2016 vintage

monster wine. This wine needs hours of decanting. I left open in the bottle for about 5 hours. By then it was pleasantly drinkable. Cheers

2016 vintage

Merlot is killing this vintage. Great bottle, and vintage. Cheers

2016 vintage

Super approachable. Drinkable today. Nice fruit, and Cheers!!!

2016 vintage

Wonderful. Soft, silky mouthfeel. Beautiful nose. A cab lovers merlot.

2016 vintage

This btl never gelled, while appealing on the nose, it was closed down on the finish. Decanted 2 hrs, consumed over 4. Drink now, hold 2-3yrs.

2003 vintage

Pretty tasty, with typicity for what it is. Well-executed Napa merlot, solidly in drinking window now.

1998 vintage

For kicks and giggles I opened this alongside a 2007 Schrader Cab To-Kalon and besides a little knock on the nose this thing would have been a dead ringer for it! Almost unbelievable, but not for me. I've been espousing the greatness of this wine since I first had it and it didn't disappoint tonight. Had all the brown sugar, baking spice, blackberry liqueur, cocoa, tar and leather that it's ever had. Hitting on all cylinders and did so over …

2003 vintage

Bound to happen. VA all over the place.

2003 vintage

--- COLOR: Same deep ruby-purple with red velvet rim, dark. NOTE: I've been enjoying this wine since 2006/2007, several bottles, and it's always been my benchmark for Merlot. Only Buccella has ever come close (very close with their 2006). I snagged some more bottles of this but was wary since I hadn't had a bottle of this since May 2008. Back then I scored it 9.4. Today I honestly scored it 9.4+ and was even thinking about a 9.5. Yikes, …

2003 vintage

At the epicenter of its prime...Such a great silky lush wine. Lewis has always been a great wine and this is a prime example....

2003 vintage

3-4-5 Napa Merlot Vertical

2003 vintage

Gave it 90 minutes, then Silky, smooth, still young. Can't believe how youthful. Enough backbone to go another 3-4 years. Amazing length. Nobody makes a Napa merlot like this anymore. Amazing.

2003 vintage

Has improved with age with better integration and harmony.

2003 vintage

OCW4Poker XII - Wines of Washington (WCC - Irvine CA) : Double-Blind; Great wine; Some bricking around the edges; Terrific nose, opulent; complex flavors or mocha and dark fruit, and a touch of molasses. This is not subtle in any way, shape, or form but it's not out of control either.

2003 vintage

Now this is Merlot at it's finest.

2003 vintage

25th Anniversary Vin Vino BYO Open House (Vin Vino Wine, Palo Alto, California) : Medium dark red violet color; mushroom, plum nose; tasty, mature, plum, berry palate; medium-plus finish 92+ pts.

1998 vintage

Captivating and seductive deep mahogany color, with enticing fragrances of earthy red fruits and spice. Delightful French roast coffee, cherry and mint hit the palate on the initial, firm entry. A seamless transition to sophisticated notes of raspberry, blackberry liquer, maple and a band of chocolate that runs throughout. Magnificent balance and structure defined by fine grain tannins. Sweet, crushed blueberries lead to a polished and compelling mocha oak framed finish. At pinnacle drinking stage, this phenominal small production Merlot …

2003 vintage

The OC Blind Wine Crew goes Italian (Il Barone Ristorante, Newport Beach, CA) : Served blind. Ripe nose showing berry jam and mocha with heat. Juicy and surprisingly lean feeling. The variety was hard to identify with my best guesses being very modern styled Zin or Cab.

2003 vintage

OC Blind Wine Crew Does Dinner and Italian (Il Barone in Newport Beach, CA) : Served blind. Plump, rich and dark with some pruny edges and this wine gets close, oh so close to being over the top but it manages to stay just below that line. Drink up and enjoy the hedonism.

2003 vintage

Silky chocolate and still lots of primary fruit. Drinking very well now and still quite young tasting.

2003 vintage

No need to decant. Pop and Pour

2003 vintage

The nose was very different than we had experienced previously. There was quite a bit of VA that was evident early on. Some of it blew off, but not all of it. That took some of the fun out of this wine for me. The nose still had cassis aromas, but there was also anise. The palate was still very packed with rich fruit, and had a very long finish. I"m hoping that the last bottle that I have won't …

2003 vintage

The nose had a fair amount of brett and leather aromas along with some muted dark fruit aromas. The palate showed currants and plums with earth and tobacco. This bottle obviously had some age on it, but is not in danger of going over the hill anytime soon. It was fun to taste this next to an 03 Lewis Merlot.

1998 vintage

Drank at the Gage (no formal notes). Fantastic nose with great fruit. You will not like this wine if you like subtlety.

2003 vintage

Nose of fresh latex paint (in a good way), followed by blueberry preserves flavors. Very good, though still primary flavors at this point. Will give the others a couple more years to develop.

2003 vintage

We enjoyed this bottle much more than we did the last time. The nose had nice dark fruit and creamy vanilla. You really got the impression that this would be a full bodied, rich wine just from the nose. The palate did not disappoint. Great berry flavors, cassis, and a little toffee like note were present. This had a very big mouthfeel and a fairly long finish. This was the only merlot amongst a bunch of big Syrahs and Cabs, …

2003 vintage

The nose had great dark fruit and oak aromas. The palate was very fruity as well with less cassis than I had remembered, but still very intense. The mouthfeel of this wine seemed thick, and it had a long finish. At times, it had a bit of a slightly mettalic taste show up at the finish, but it wasn't always there. Not quite what I remembered it to be. Maybe we really just liked it when it was young. We'll …

2003 vintage

Very nice though not the religious experience I expected. Lots of oak and powerful black fruit

2003 vintage

Rich, ripe blackberry, plum and currant aromas and flavors with well balanced oak. Integrated tannins with pleasant finish.

2003 vintage

Blind. Thick. Very thick. Lots of woody barrel smells but they fade with air. Caramel, toffee smells with not a lot of fruit impression. Twix bar or some such candy. After and hour or so and some swirling, some sweet fruit appears. Still really oak dominated.

2003 vintage

Lots of life left - leathery, mature notes, but still some structure. Last bottle from this vintage - will miss it.

1998 vintage

What an exotic nose on this wine. On opening, I smelled and smelled it, finally calling it butter pecan mocha. Just an exotic thing going on. In tasting the wine a little later into the evening, indeed, this is Lewis. Somewhat unctuous, with lots of chocolate and red to black fruit. Pretty good balance but that nose and chocolate flavor, we drank this wine during poker and it fit in real well on its own, sans food.

2003 vintage

Simply tremendous - Cali Merlot at its absolute best.

2003 vintage

Needed more time to open up than we gave it. As the hour wore on , it showed chocolate notes, but overall this was not as good as previous bottles.

1998 vintage

Have opened 3 and loved it more each time. Smooth, velvety, mid-weight, almost like a pinot.

1998 vintage

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Lewis Cellars, Merlot, Napa Valley

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