It would appear that they are still producing these days, but is there any excitement that this once esteemed outfit garnered a decade ago? With Mark Herold at the helm, Merus Cabernet possessed personality and pedigree, and it was certainly in demand, really not sure if there is any demand these days? Checked their website and its gone the corporate route, quite stale in actual fact. For the review of their 2012, they had to settle for the highly esteemed Wine Enthusiast for a score worth publishing. Anyone here has this recently?
Mark Herold hasn’t been the winemaker for awhile now, probably why the shine has gone off it. He left in 2008.
Merus was a Bill Foley purchase if I’m not mistaken.
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That is correct sir!
You can see the current Mark Herold wines at his site:
It’s fully corporate now of course. They occasionally offer big discounts on it and Altvs if you are patient (Foley Food & Wine Society email list, public, nothing special). I loved the old Mark Herold vintages and have been impressed by the 10 and 12 (I am an 11 hater almost across the board, sorry). They are trying to preserve the style and character of Mark’s wines and it’s worth checking out (wait for that sale).
I was served a 2011 Merus Cabernet blind tonight. Pretty clearly a Napa cab tasted blind. Not a bad wine in a big style, but too much burnt toast and burnt rubber on the nose and in the mouth. Dense, chewy, tannic, with a big whack of alcohol in the mid-palate – 15.2% to be precise.
Question: How could they get 15.2% in 2011? Reverse osmosis, perhaps?
I know '11 was a difficult year, but it’s amazing to me that this retails for ~$160 (current release and the '11). Sure not my style.