Raymond Reserve Napa Valley Merlot 2007

"Raymond Vineyards, founded in 1971, is one of Napa Valley’s great estates. The winery’s family tree is entwined with the earliest foundations of the Napa Valley: the Raymond family arrived in Napa in 1933 and became deeply connected to the valley’s winemaking origins after Roy Raymond, Sr. married Martha Jane Beringer in 1936, whose family had arrived in Napa in 1869. Roy Raymond Sr. ultimately worked more than thirty-five years with the Beringers before finding a 90-acre estate straddling Rutherford and St Helena in the heart of the Napa Valley that remains today one of Napa’s pioneering original estates.

90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that opens with fragrant aromas of cherry, raspberry, cranberry, cassis and mocha followed by big, bold flavors of red cherry, raspberry, boysenberry, black pepper, cassis and chocolate. Well balanced with good structure and a long smooth vanilla finish. A versatile wine to pair with a variety of foods, from roast chicken, lamb chops, marinated pork tenderloin and smoked salmon, to rib eye steaks, spicy beef Fajitas, red curry, braised duck, mushroom risotto and hearty soups and stews.
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