1984 St. Francis Merlot Reserve - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley (12/9/2005)
Fantastic wine. Surprisingly rich and vibrant fruit. The regular bottling ('85) suffers from off-putting, non-varietal bell pepper/dill aromas. The '84 Reserve thankfully doesn't suffer from this defect. Parker described this wine as "one of the finest California merlots I have tasted." I agree. The interesting thing is that this wine has 14.2% alcohol, which was very high for wines of that era. My fervent hope is that some of my recent high alcohol purchases will age as well. (94 pts.)