Blackbird Vineyards Illustration

Blackbird Vineyards Illustration

Bordeaux Blend

Vintage: 2012
Description: Illustration represents the core - the heart - of Blackbird Vineyards. Every element of Blackbird's multi-faceted wine portfolio draws inspiration from this singular, Pomerol-inspired Merlot. It is an undiluted illustration of the passion, time and concentration invested in creating elegant, multi-layered wines. Illustration challenges the notion that Cabernet Sauvignon is the only age-worthy red wine crafted in the Napa Valley. Review Aaron Pott turned out a gorgeous set of wines for B lackbird. A new winery scheduled to be ready this year, should provide the resources and flexibility to take these wines to the next level. Arise is the entry-level offering, while Illustration, Paramour and Contrarian are Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon-based blends, respectively. - From Napa Valley's Extraordinary 2016 Cabernets - Part 1 (Dec 2018) by Antonio Galloni. Producer Since 1999, the Blackbird Vineyard (a former walnut orchard first planted with 5,717 Merlot vines in 1997), quietly provided fruit to many of Napa's finest winemakers, for whom it yielded astonishing comments from Napa Valley veterans and noteworthy editorialists. Purchased by Michael Polenske in 2003, Blackbird Vineyards is now an ultra premium label in its own right. Fittingly, the word 'Merlot' is French patois for 'little blackbird.' An early harbinger of Blackbird's potential arose when Mia Klein of Dalla Valle fame created a Blackbird Vineyard designate for her highly acclaimed 1999 Selene Merlot (no less than 95% of the fruit in the bottle must be from the named vineyard). Three of the top wine critics in the industry - Robert Parker, Stephen Tanzer, and Wine Spectator's James Laube - scored this wine in the 90s. Blackbird's inaugural 2003 bottling, culled from a small crush of grapes that weren't already claimed by other vintners was awarded 98 points by Vinfolio, proclaiming it, "the best Merlot nobody had ever heard of." Acme Fine Wines news was equally enthusiastic, saying, "it is with wines like this that we never question why we are in this business." Blackbird's 2003 Merlot was also given a score of 95 points by Vintrust, which praised its complexity and richness, proclaiming it, "hedonistic in length.".
Price: $ 62.49
Price in original currency: None

Previously available from Traino's Marlton

Address: 100 Church Road
Marlton, NJ  08053
United States
Telephone (regular): 856-983-0056
Get driving directions to Traino's Marlton

First added to 1000 Corks on August 20, 2019.

This product was inactivated November 26, 2019.

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