Franciscan Estate Magnificat Napa Valley Meritage – Make Mine A Meritage Wine 11

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec from Napa Valley, California.

SRP of $50 and available widely for $30 (Saturday Splurge). 6,146 cases produced. Sample submitted for review.

From the bottle:

“To create Magnificat, we begin with our finest lots from our Estate and other select vineyards then craft a blend as seamless and harmonious as the Bach masterpiece it honors in name. This 2009 blend, our 25th vintage of Magnificat, was aged for 20 months in oak and shows layered aromas of cassis and plum, with alluring ripe black fruit flavors and hints of vanilla and spice.

14.5% Alcohol”

As the bottle mentions, 2009 is the 25th vintage of this wine. For the last wine in our series on Meritage we’ve chose one of the originals, a wine that has been produced since 1985. The Magnificat, named for Bach’s masterpiece, is also a wine that has been consistently good over the years. We found the 2008 vintage to be particularly delicious and the 2009 may be even better.

The 2009 Franciscan Estate Magnificat Napa Valley Meritage begins with lots of lovely plum aromas as well as blackberry, vanilla, cedar, spice and dark chocolate. It smells excellent and better yet many of these flavors carry over when tasting this truly delicious and smooth wine. There’s loads of rich fruit, lovely spice and intriguing layers of dark chocolate plus hints of black pepper, vanilla and oak in the mouth. It ends dry with good length. The 2009 might even be a bit better than the 2008, which means this magnificent wine is definitely Saturday Splurge worthy!

Wine in the “Make Mine A Meritage” series:

• Lyeth Meritage 2010 – Make Mine A Meritage Wine #1
• Hahn Winery Central Coast Meritage 2010 – This ain’t no second class Bordeaux.
• Dry Creek Vineyard Sonoma County Meritage 2008 – Smooth Drinking Ahead!
• Fox Run Vineyards Meritage 2010 – Proof the Finger Lakes offers a lot more than Riesling.
• Arrowhead Red Meritage 2008 – It’s easy to fall for this Meritage from Niagara.
• Dry Creek Vineyard The Mariner Meritage 2008 – Splice the mainbrace!
• Estancia Reserve Meritage 2009 – Sweet oak and rich fruit wrapped up in a smooth package.
• Kirkland Signature Rutherford Napa Valley Meritage 2011 – A Sure Thing!
• Chateau Ste Michelle Artist Series Meritage 2008 – A Work of Art
• Arrowhead Spring Vineyards Meritage Reserve 2008 – A blackberry patch in a bottle.
• Franciscan Estate Magnificat Napa Valley Meritage 2009 – Magnificent Magnificat.

Buy this wine online from our featured sponsor Marketview Liquor or see a listing of local retailers selling this wine here.

Saturday Splurge

Find out more about my rating system and check out the Wine Ranking to find all my reviews! You can sort by type of wine, cost, rating, etc. in the interactive database.

Like The Reverse Wine Snob on Facebook and add our page to your circles on Google+!