Description
2019 MERLOT NAPA VALLEY
H I S T O R Y
The wines of La Jota have deep roots in Napa Valley. Back in 1888, winemaking pioneer W.S. Keyes planted some of the first vines on Howell Mountain, and 10 years later his contemporary, Fredrick Hess, built a stone winery and established La Jota Vineyard Co., named for its location on the Mexican parcel Rancho La Jota. Both men won medals for their Howell Mountain wines in the Paris Exposition of 1900. Today, La Jota Vineyard Co. proudly carries on this great legacy with its small-production mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and Chardonnay. All La Jota wines are sourced from the winery’s estate and from nearby W.S. Keyes Vineyard, and they capture the intense fruit and mineral complexity of these cool-climate origins.
V I N E Y A R D
The La Jota Vineyard lies high upon a volcanic plateau, looking east over Napa Valley. Surrounded by pine, fir, oak and madrone trees, the estate stands out because of its cool, windswept climate. Here we look to vineyard blocks that produce soft-textured Cabernet Sauvignon for wines of earlier approachability, and where the decomposed granite soils of our W.S. Keyes Vineyard impart a pop of bright fruit character and broader tannins.
W I N E M A K I N G
We hand-harvested grapes into small, 30-pound boxes to prevent crushing, and then we brought them to the winery for hand-sorting. After destemming and light crushing, the must was cold-soaked for gentle color, flavor and tannin extraction. Winemaker Chris Carpenter fermented the juice with native yeast in a combination of open and closed-top stainless-steel tanks. Following gentle basket press, the wine underwent in-barrel malolactic fermentation,
rounding the acidity and integrating the vanilla character of French oak. The wine was barrel-aged for 21 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
W I N E M A K E R ‘ S C O M M E N T S
“The 2019 vintage brought us lots of winter rain, frequent fog events in the spring, and a mild summer with just a few short heat spikes. Uneventful fall weather allowed for extended hang time, and our last fruit came off the vines November 1. The 2019 vintage unequivocally contributes to the rich story of Merlot grown in the volcanic soils of Howell Mtn. Rich and dense, the wine sings with flavors of plum, raspberry and graphite. Beautiful at this youthful stage, this Merlot will surely age gracefully over the next decade or two.” – Christopher Carpenter, Winemaker
T E C H N I C A L N O T E S
BLEND COMPOSITION
81.5% Merlot
11.5% Petit Verdot
7% Tannat
HARVEST DATES
October 22 to November 1
FERMENTATION
Native Yeast Fermentation
MACERATION
20 days
BARREL AGING
21 months in French oak (63% new)
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME
14.5%
WINE PH
3.44
WINE ACIDITY
.66g/100ml
VINEYARD
La Jota Vineyard
W.S. Keyes Vineyard
A C C L A I M
95 Points – James Suckling,
H I S T O R Y O F A C C L A I M
2 0 2 1
96 Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent, April 2024
96 Points – James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, November 2023
95+ Points – Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, December 2023
2 0 2 0
Did not produce 2020 Merlot
2 0 1 9
95 Points – James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2022
93 Points – Antonio Galloni, Vinous, January 2022
93 Points – Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, December 2021
2 0 1 8
95 Points – James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, March 2021
94 + Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, January 2021
2 0 1 7
94 Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, October 2019
94 Points – Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, March 2021
2 0 1 6
95 Points & #37 Top 100 Wines of 2019 – Kim Marcus, Wine Spectator, December 2019
96 Points – Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, February 2019
94 + Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, October 2018
2 0 1 5
94 Points – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, December 2017
93 Points – Kim Marcus, Wine Spectator, August 2018
93 Points – Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, November 2018
2 0 1 4
94 Points – Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, March 2018
2 0 1 3
95 Points – Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, March 2017
94 Points – Robert M. Parker Jr., Robert Parker Wine Advocate, October 2015
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