Winery - Northstar
* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The first-ever Northstar Syrah, it’s 100% Syrah, yet and fits in perfectly with the house style. Supremely smooth and satiny, the voluptuous mouthfeel focuses on sweet, plummy fruit slathered in chocolate. It’s delicious but made in very limited quantities (sold only at the winery and to winery club members).
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Northstar Syrah - 2003
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Stella Maris is priced well below the other Northstar wines, but can stand on its own with this kind of quality. Bursting with tangy berries and lively acidity, it feels sculpted and refreshing, deep and lingering. A lick of mocha and a finishing hint of licorice add to the pleasure.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This pure Cabernet blends first-class fruit from Loess, Windrow and Cold Creek. It’s spicy and tight, with black cherry fruit at the core. It’s back-loaded with toast and caramel flavors from aging in a mix of French and American oak.
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Northstar makes a bold, ultra-premium Merlot. It’s soft, satiny and sexy, with voluptuous black cherry/blackberry fruit, layers of chocolate, and spices suggestive of cinnamon, mint and more exotic flavors. Powerful and complex, yet open and accessible, it showcases the “serious” side of Merlot. Editors’ Choice.
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Northstar Merlot - 1998
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Northstar has ramped up production to 2,900 cases, on its way to 15,000 once the new winery (being built in Walla Walla) is operational. Here is flat-out killer fruit, stacked with all the flavors of the rainbow, that finds the silky sweet spot on the palate and goes for a long, long ride. This winery is on a roll. Editors’ Choice.
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Northstar Merlot - 1999
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Aggressive, expensive-tasting French oak rules the day here, with moderately ripe, totally generic black cherry fruit flavors. It’s all about the barrel, with butterscotch, toast, butter and more butter. Very tasty, quite drinkable, but extremely simple.
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Northstar Merlot - 2003
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Northstar’s Columbia Valley Merlot nicely captures the silky finesse of the vintage. Velvety, deep and rich, it’s loaded with toast, licorice and chocolate, along with plenty of ripe red and black fruits. It’s three quarters Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, with a splash of Cab Franc and Petit Verdot.
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Northstar Merlot - 2006
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
The Columbia Valley designated Merlot from Northstar accounts for six times as many cases as its Walla Walla Merlot, yet in quality terms it sometimes equals or even surpasses the pricier bottling. The 2005 vintage was stellar, and this lovely wine is bursting with fruit—raspberry, blackberry, plum and more. Spicy aromas and flavors wrap around chocolaty tannins; there are exotic hints of curry and plenty of toast.
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Northstar Merlot - 2005
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
This is the second vintage for Northstar’s Walla Walla bottling, and the vintage is slightly better, with more substantial weight and tannin. Walla Walla strawberry fruit flavors are here in abundance, with nicely managed oak and a long, smooth mid-palate.
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Northstar Merlot - 2001
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* Expert NoteJanuary 12, 2012
Medium-bodied, showing cherry and plum fruit and a rather hard structure, with herb, green tea and tobacco streaks. Not quite up to previous standards.
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Northstar Merlot - 2001
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