Shelton Vineyards
2004 Merlot - Estate(Yadkin Valley)
The Shelton brothers, Charlie and Ed, grew up in North Carolina and spent boyhood summers on their grandparents land near Mt. Airy in the northern Piedmont. Agriculturally, the region was devoted to tobacco growing. The Sheltons acquired the land in 1994.
Their interest in wine began as a hobby, a sort of adjunct to a very successful construction business. The hobby grew more serious as they recognized the area’s potential for winegrowing. As modern pioneers of the Yadkin Valley, the Sheltons broke ground on the winery in 1999 and have been in the forefront of Carolina’s young wine industry ever since. Focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Viognier and other varieties, Shelton boasts a showplace winery in Dobson. The 383-acre estate has 200 acres under vine.
Shelton’s 2004 Merlot, with seven percent Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, is medium-bodied, smooth and berryish in flavor -- an attractive quaff, lean in structure but with appealing flavor. A smaller quantity of 2004 Reserve Merlot, now sold out, was even more impressive, with greater concentration and length.
Reviewed January 9, 2007 by Barbara Ensrud.
Other reviewed wines from Shelton Vineyards
The Wine
Winery: Shelton Vineyards |
The ReviewerBarbara Ensrud has been writing about and reviewing wines since 1979, with a nationally syndicated column for the New York Daily News and numerous other publications. Her “no numbers” approach to evaluating wine is simple: how does it taste – on its own, as well as with particular foods? Is it good value, whether $10 or $210? Does it measure up in terms of varietal character and regional identity? …"When I taste a good wine, I can't wait to share it with fellow wine lovers." |