It is always a surprise to see Michael Keenan. I received an email this morning to see if I was available to do a quick tasting. 30 minutes later, he is at my restaurant ready to roll. We start the tasting with the 2005 Keenan Carneros Merlot. The fruit of this merlot comes from Andy Beckstoffer's Las Amigas Vineyard in Carneros. Michael uses some of the fruits for his own Napa Valley Merlot. The rest of the fruit goes into this bottling. Therefore, this wine is not made every vintage. The 2005 Merlot has a deep purple color with notes of rhubarb pie and Darjeeling tea. It is soft and rather elegant in style. (Score 86)
Next, we re-taste his 2003 Keenan Napa Valley Merlot. It is fascinating to re-taste this wine after it has more bottle aging. A blend of 80% Estate fruit and 20% Carneros fruit, this wine shows much more of the forest floor and primary fruit quality. Another interesting development of all his wines is the improvement of mouth feel with additional bottle aging. (Score 90)
The show stopper of the day belongs to the 2004 Keenan Mailbox Reserve Merlot. This Merlot is made with 100% estate fruit from the mailbox vineyard. It exhibits great depth and complexity in the glass. Dark purple in color, the wine opens itself with telltale Mocha and Blueberry notes. As it sits in the glass, it opens with secondary profile of dried tea leaves and tobacco note. The tannin in this wine is huge. This is a classic Spring Mountain Merlot that needs time in the bottle to develop. (Score: 93)
The last wine in the tasting was the 2003 Keenan Cabernet Sauvignon. As with all of his wines, the Keenan Cabernet really benefited with additional bottle aging. This wine, a blend of 70% Estate Cabernet, 25% Cabernet from Pope Valley, and 5% Carneros Merlot, opens up to classic creme de cassis, pencil lead, and a touch of cinnamon. According to Michael, 5 different clonal selections went into this Cabernet (Bordeaux 337 and 15, Davis Clones 4, 7, and C). I was very impressed with the lush month feel of this wine. I remembered when I first tasted this wine at release, it was very tight. Now it is a completely different animal. I upped my rating from 89 to 91 points.
It is always a pleasure tasting wines with Michael. When you catch him at the right moment, he will go on and on about all the blending trials that he conducts each year to find the right combination for each of his wines. As such, you never know what to expect from his wines each year. One thing for sure, his red wine program can rival that of any premium cabernet producers in Napa Valley.
Wine: 2005 Keenan Carneros Merlot
Current Score (Future Potential): 86 (86)
Region: Los Carneros, Napa Valley
Vintage: 2005
Varietals: Merlot
Date Reviewed: 09/06/07
Wine: 2003 Keenan Napa Valley Merlot
Current Score (Future Potential): 90 (91)
Region: Napa Valley
Vintage: 2003
Varietals: Merlot
Date Reviewed: 09/06/07
Wine: 2004 Keenan Mailbox Reserve Merlot
Current Score (Future Potential): 93 (94)
Region: Napa Valley
Vintage: 2004
Varietals: Merlot
Date Reviewed: 09/06/07
Wine: 2003 Keenan Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Current Score (Future Potential): 91 (91)
Region: Napa Valley
Vintage: 2003
Varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon
Date Reviewed: 09/06/07
Disclaimer: I am passionate about what I do. I tasted wines daily and evaluate them based on my own experience. I recognize and respect that making wines is a very hard work. It takes passion, huge financial risk, patience, and vision. Unfortunately, not every wine is a star. I tried to evaluate wines as objectively as possible. My score is my snap shot assessment of the wine at the time of my evaluation and it may changed as wines tend to evolve or develop in the bottle. My written evaluation of these wines are solely my expression of my opinion.
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