Snowden 'Lost Vineyard' Merlot 2022
Snowden 'Lost Vineyard' Merlot 2022
Produced from Merlot grapes grown in our 1.7 acre Lost Vineyard block, co-fermented with 3% Grenache from our rolling "test block," where we are currently exploring Rhone varieties. The grapes were harvested by hand on September 1, 2022, fermented by wild, native yeasts, aged in French oak barrels, and bottled in the spring of 2023. Diana describes the wine as “…highlighted by a delicate bouquet of crushed rose petals, plums and cinnamon … long and lovely with licorice, black cherries and velvety chocolate.” 208 cases produced.
93 points John Gilman (A View from the Cellar)
The 2022 Merlot “Lost Vineyard” bottling from Snowden Vineyards comes in at an even fourteen percent octane in this vintage. These vines were planted in 1994, so they were closing in on the thirtieth birthday in 2022. The wine’s aromatic constellation is complex and classy, delivering notes of cassis, cigar smoke, a touch of eucalyptus, coffee bean, dark soil tones, just a hint of tobacco leaf and a deft framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, elegant and sports lovely depth of fruit at the core, with a good base of minerality, fine-grained tannins, excellent balance and a long, focused and complex finish. This is very classy merlot, but it will need some time in the cellar to properly blossom. 2032 – 2065 View From The Cellar, May, 2025
90 points Wine Advocate
The bargain-priced 2022 Merlot Lost Vineyard features scents of black tea, black cherries and a hint of almond paste. Aged in 30% new French oak and blended with a splash of Grenache (3%), it's medium to full-bodied, soft, supple, round and generous. It's a fun, easy-drinking wine, with soft tannins barely registering on the mocha-tinged finish. No, it's not a big powerhouse but something rather elegant.
Varietal: Merlot
Appellation: Saint Helena, mountain vineyards between Howell Mountain and Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley
Aging: 7 months in French oak, 30% new and 70% used.