2018 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot (375 mL) Half-Bottle

What is Napa Valley’s most iconic mountain-grown Merlot?

Ask any California wine collector, and we’d bet their mind goes exactly where ours does: Pride Mountain. The name alone evokes the opaque core, brooding black fruit, and fine-grained tannins that have made Pride the platonic ideal for high altitude, densely packed, ageworthy Merlot. 

As Jeb Dunnuck noted, “Merlot excelled in 2018,” and this wine that he called “a joy to drink” opens with aromas featuring an array of blackberry, red currant, and black cherry, with a woodsy spice tone around the periphery. Raw chocolate and mountain herbs such as bay leaf and tobacco are present after a little time in the glass. This is it: the Merlot that stands tall on steakhouse tables all across the country, and it should be a cellar staple for any lover of red wine. 

Back when Jim and Carolyn Pride founded Pride Mountain Vineyards, you’d hardly see a sign of humanity on the drive to their property at the top of Spring Mountain. These days, it’s not too different. A few wineries have popped up on Spring Mountain Road in the last three decades, but Pride still feels about as remote as it did in 1989. 

Just a few years after their first vintage, Pride was racking up 98- and 99-point scores from Robert Parker, who said “these wines catapult Pride Mountain into the top echelon of California's quality wineries.” Now Pride—which has come to stand for Napa Valley mountain reds in all their dark, intense, and cellarworthy glory—has become a regular on magazine covers and Top 100 lists.