Korbin Kameron, Merlot, 2021 SO102825 Istine GS One hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon

One hundred percent Cabernet Sauvignon aged in large-format Burgundian oak vats—an approach almost unheard of in Pauillac

is best known for its deep bench of grand crus

with an intensity of strawberry and red fruit that belies its modest price and proves rosé can be serious wine

This is the everyday version

Korbin Kameron, Merlot, 2021 SO102825 Istine GS One hundred percent Cabernet SauvignonThis Merlot comes from a mountaintop estate straddling the Napa Sonoma line at 2,300 feet, in the Moon Mountain District, farmed by Phil Coturri, one of California's most experienced organic and biodynamic mountain growers. The Korbin Kameron vineyard was planted in 2000 to all five red Bordeaux varieties, and its high elevation site, on complex soils of ancient seabed and volcanic rock, gives Merlot far more structure and lift than the plush valley