Mercer Estate’s 2015 Small Lot Petit Verdot named “Wine Of The Year” at the 2019 USA Wine Ratings that took place in San Francisco on the 22nd of July. The Petit Verdot also grabbed “Best Wine By Quality”, and “Best in Show By Country (USA)” along with a Gold medal to add to the list. 

On the nose, the wine lets out jumpy floral aromas. Along with rose petals, you can sense notes of blueberries and wet stone minerality. On the mouth, this Petit Verdot varietal is full of powdery tannins. It has a bright acidity, which gives a lift to the finish - bringing the floral notes back up. 

The fruit for this wine is developed at the Spice Cabinet Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. The grapes were twofold arranged, first in the vineyard, of course at the winery. The organic product was not squashed so as to save however much entire berry as could reasonably be expected. The wine is aged in small open-top fermenters with twice day by day punch downs. In the wake of depleting the wine and squeezing the skins, the wine was racked to a mix of new and utilized French oak barrels. The wine was matured in barrel for 30 months before being mixed together.

Only 91 cases produced, released first to Carma Club members in May 2018. Available only in our Mercer Tasting Rooms (Prosser and Georgetown-Seattle).

The Mercer Estates started out as a ranch, named The Mercer Ranches - where the family grew dryland wheat and operated cattle and sheep. It was in 1972 when Don and Linda Mercer became the founding wine grape growers in Horse Heaven Hills. The Cabernet Sauvignon they planted in Block 1 later became the highly acclaimed Champoux Vineyard. 

In 2011, Don and Linda Mercer received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. In 2016 Mercer Wine Estates was crowned Washington Winery of the Year by Wine Press Northwest. And Mercer scored big in the big state of Texas–winning a custom saddle and chaps for Top Pacific Northwest Wine and Top Red Wine at the Houston International Wine Comp. 

In 2017, Mercer Estates expanded by adding a second tasting room in the neighborhood of Georgetown, Seattle. This journey leads Mercer Estates to 2019, having their 2015 Small Lot Petit Verdot named as the 2019 Wine Of The Year at the USA Wine Ratings. 

To evaluate the entrants, the USA Wine Ratings invites a leading panel of top-level wine industry experts where wine is judged on the three parameters of Quality, Value, and Packaging. 

The USA Wine Ratings, organized by the Beverage Trade Network, a leading platform that connects the alcohol beverage world - is the leading wine competition in the United States that looks to recognize, reward, and help promote wine brands that have successfully been created to identify and target a specific wine drinker.

To check out other winners, click here.

To know more about the competition, click here.