2006 Hightower Cellars Merlot

Columbia Valley

Washington State

· 82% Merlot

· 9% Cabernet Sauvignon

· 9% Cabernet Franc

· 73% Horse Heaven, 27% Red Mountain

Our 2006 Merlot won best of Varietal at the local Tri-Cities Wine Festival. It has all of

the characteristics of a great Merlot - lovely bright fruit, medium weight structure,

silky tannins and a pleasing finish that leaves one wanting more. A wine with this

structure makes an excellent food wine. We hope you enjoy it!

The grapes for this wine were handpicked and handsorted to ensure that only the

best grapes were used. We fermented the fruit in small open-top containers no taller

than they are wide to extract greater flavor and color by having more juice in contact

with the grape skins. After gently pressing the wine from the skins the wine aged in

small oak barrels for twenty months. During barrel aging we gravity racked the wine

off its lees with a siphon. Separate lots were blended and bottled in the summer of

2008.

296 cases produced.