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Yakima Valley Vintners 2018 Dean’s List Merlot, Columbia Valley $30.00

By on April 12, 2022

In the nomenclature of Yakima Valley College’s winemaking program, the “Dean’s List” reference indicates the bottling of a reserve wine. Of the nine career Platinum awards won by students of Trent Ball and instructor emeritus Brad Smith, five were from the Dean’s List. Now, the 2018 vintage has qualified for this fall’s 2022 Platinum Awards, thanks to its layers of blackberry, black pepper and red bell pepper and structure of plum jam with light chocolate. Smith, who also has a culinary background, suggested serving this with grilled flatiron steak and sautéed mushrooms.

Rating: Gold medal – 92 points

Production: 26 cases

Alcohol: 13.6%

Winery’s website

About Great Northwest Wine

Articles credited to Great Northwest Wine are authored by Eric Degerman and other contributors. In most cases, these are wine reviews that are judged blind by the Great Northwest Wine tasting panel.

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