2014 Kathryn Kennedy "Serious" Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot

Notes

The 2014 Kathryn Kennedy "Serious" Santa Cruz Mountains Merlot is one of the most perfect $50 bottles of California red wine I’ve had this year, it just so happens to cost $35 due to our recent deal. More importantly, this will be the last ever vintage of this wine, meaning these bottles will end up as historical testaments to real California winemaking, one that continues to be threatened by the perils of modern pop culture. Spending some time with winemaker and owner Marty Mathis recently, we discovered he was planning on discontinuing one of the best and most honest expressions of Merlot made in the entire state! "In my thirty year career," Marty told me, "I’ve probably crushed more Merlot than Cab - over thirty different vineyards from around California. Merlot is a fantastic variety, world class, but there’s not a lot of Merlot in the Santa Cruz Mountains, even though it’s better suited to the cooler climate.So why discontinue what is one of the "better suited" wines of the Kathryn Kennedy line-up? Because the consequences of Paul Giamatti's fatal line in the film Sideways continue to effect the market more than a decade after its initial release. People still think Merlot is something to be avoided. "I called it ‘Serious’ Merlot because I hoped the Sideways effect had faded away a bit," Marty continued; "I wanted something that could be considered alongside Pomerol." The result is immaculate, concentrated, and full of character. (David Driscoll, K&L Asst. Head Buyer)