The 2006 Merlot Riserva emerges with pretty scents of cedar, tobacco, plums and prunes in a medium- bodied style. This bottling shows fine length and balance but not quite the pedigree to support extended bottle age. I am of the opinion that the estate does best with their simpler wines. The raw materials are clearly high quality, though. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2016.
These new releases from Kornell are delicious. Broadly speaking, the entry-level wines are more interesting than some of the higher-end bottlings. The estate is clearly producing top quality fruit, the next challenge is to capture that quality in bottle.
No American importer.