Over the last twelve months, Wine & Spirits tasted 291 merlots. The following wines received the strongest praise from our critics. A list of all merlots tasted, with the recommended wines highlighted, is included with magazine subscription copies.

Based in Walla Walla, Leonetti's Gary Figgins blends his merlot from a selection of vineyard sources - 66 percent from Walla Walla, the balance from elsewhere in Columbia Valley. Grapey and young as this wine may be, it's a beauty, all of its purple intensity of undeveloped fruit packed into a structure that lends it distinction and speaks of its potential. Barrel tones are still overt, but what dominates the wine is the depth of fruit, completely black in the middle, then taking on a clear focus in long-lasting flavors of green fig and blackberry. It's already mouthwatering with a foresty richness, but it would be a shame to drink this now. Give it cellar time to grow beyond its blocky youth, perhaps another six years, and the result will be grand. (2,340 cases) Leonetti Cellar, Walla Walla WA
 

This is a head-turning wine, on the surface evocative of a beautiful model, underneath, an evocation of the place where it was grown. The team at Far Niente first tasted a merlot from this vineyard in '95, and it spurred the creation of Nickel & Nickel, their new collection of vineyard-designated wines. Suscol Ranch is in far southeastern Napa, a cooler pocket of the valley offering this wine of tremendous elegance and restraint. Even as the richness and generosity of fruit spreads out across the palate it does so with grace and drive. The contrasts of richness and verve are backed by the fruit flavors themselves, in tension between black raspberry and dark tropical chocolate. This should age beautifully over the next five years, if anyone has the fortitude to hold off drinking it. Nickel & Nickel Winery, Oakville, CA
 

Ciel du Cheval is an arid vineyard site on Red Mountain, in '98 offering a plump merlot with a nerve that takes some time to move beyond its initial tension and gruff tannin. As impacted as it is, up front it's immediatedly rich and creamy, the wood and tannin suggestions of roasted meats closing down the sweeter fruit. In this sense it's structured and firm as a Bordeaux, needing a lot of air time to reveal a more luscious fullness. It will probably be approaching its best eight to ten years from the vintage, as the structure gives in to the fruit. Andrew Will Cellars, Vashon, WA
 

Klipsun shows its elegant side in Andrew Will's latest release. The wine is crisply tailored, all in measured proportion, only beginning to show its generosity with plenty of air. From the initial scents of red berries and smoke, it grows into a velvet mouthful of licorice, black cherry and strawberry flavor. The texture is supple, carrying complexity that expands from a tight coffee and vanillin base to brighter fruit that combines in a grand and lasting impression. If you open this now, decant it at least an hour before serving. Andrew Will Cellars, Vashon, WA
 

Imagine rain falling lightly on roses. That's the impression left long after tasting this young wine, a quiet moment following the crashing wave of flavor. It's huge and black - from black cherry to black bean and black mushroom - the tannin, oak and fruit jammed together in a powerful depth. You can feel the tannins, sense the sweet ripeness of the fruit, smell the oak, but it's all closed and compressed for now. A remarkable '98, this blend of estate vineyards needs plenty of time in the cellar to relax and unfold. Duckhorn Vineyards, St. Helena, CA
 

Sterling has been making wine from neighboring Three Palms since the late sixties, the '97 representing the first from their new winemaker Rob Hunter, who's led the re-emergence of Sterling reds with a number of stunners from the '97 vintage. Here Hunter has produced a grand and generous style of merlot for drinking right now, all blackberry and plum fruit, concentrated to a succulent richness. And it already yields layers of complexity as the black fruit flavors take on a near perfect form. Luscious and juicy, this is a beautiful up-Valley red. (3,500 cases) Sterling Vineyards, Calistoga, CA
 

A muscular, blockbuster red, this is not your typical North Coast merlot. There's a clean core of black raspberry fruit, clear and resonant as the long tone of a bell. Tightening around all that dense, chewy fruit is a sweet and raspy young tannic grip. In the finish, there's an exotic, green fruit element - not underripe in any way, but similar to the way a young Vintage Port can have a green element as an incipient complexity, one that will extend into the darker fruit tones as the wine ages. Still brisk and young, it's already thoroughly enjoyable. (450 cases) Chateau St. Jean, Kenwood, CA
 

Duckhorn shares the fruit from Three Palms with Sterling, who also made an exceptional '98 from this recently replanted vineyard. The Duckhorn is funky and grand, a wine built on tremendous oak and tons of fruit to pour into it. It's Bordeaux-like in its earthiness and intensity (the initial scents read like Brett, though this doesn't show up in their other wines, so it's probably just the blunt tannins of the young vines). Give this a few years to develop, but not too long, as young-vine fruit often lacks the stamina of more established vineyards. (1,364 cases) Duckhorn Vineyards, St. Helena, CA
 

So dark and extracted, this not only coats but blankets the palate with potent, complex bass notes of flavor that slowly evolve into higher tones as well. At first gentle and generous, the scale of this merlot seems to grow beyond a normal table wine to something grander. But it doesn't feel exaggerated. The power builds out of firm, elevated acidity, elevated alcohol, potent fruit with an herbal, rosemary edge, all embossed on the palate with the mellow feel of hand-tooled leather. Enjoy this six to ten years from the vintage. (2,083 cases) Peju Province, Rutherford, CA
 

An estate wine from Pride's mountain vineyards that overlap the Napa-Sonoma border, this powerful young merlot has more structure than most. It's complicated: Rather than immediately delicious in style, it's tough, packed with flavor and all wrapped up in itself. The flavors are black (chocolate, dark plum and plum skin) while there are glimmers of light (jasmine and other white floral scents). As a merlot, it has a soft, generous middle. But as a mountain wine, the tannins make it earthy, the finish held tight. Give it time and the brighter aspects of the wine should begin to shine. (4,137 cases) Pride Mountain Vineyards, St. Helena, CA
 

Rich, mouthwatering, succulent. Generous, complex, lasting. From its plush and expansive black raspberry flavor to its structured and serious black cherry finish, this is the definitive Napa merlot. Sure, you can dismiss the grape and consider all merlot cabernet-lite. But this one is so beautifully balanced and complete that it argues for its own variety with an even-handed eloquence. Thoroughly enjoyable now, this should only continue to improve over the next five years. (1,900 cases) Sterling Vineyards, Calistoga, CA