The Prisoner Wine Company Thorn Merlot 2017 750 ML

Well-crafted, with medium-grained tannins supporting buoyant cherry, plum and currant flavors. Minerally midpalate, with hints of white pepper on the fresh finish.\n \n Producer Information\n The Prisoner Wine Company is a Californian wine producer, based in Rutherford of Napa Valley. It was founded with the inaugural vintage of The Prisoner, a red-blend of six different grape varieties, first produced in 2000. When released, The Prisoner was one of the very few red-blends in Napa produced from the unlikely combination of Zinfandel with Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Syrah, Syrah and Charbono. It was rapidly and highly-successful as well as critically lauded. Between 2000 and 2009, The Prisoner had grown from 385 cases to over 75,000 cases annually. Today, the wine portfolio has expanded to include varietal wines from Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Charbono and Zinfandel. The Dérangé is an additional red-blend of Cabernet Sauvignon with dry-farmed Malbec and small portions of other varieties. The Blindfold is the white companion to the The Prisoner, a Chardonnay-based blend combined with Roussane, Viognier and Muscat, the portion of which depends on the vintage. It spends ten months aging in a combination of French and Hungarian oak barrels prior to bottling. The most recent release from the The Prisoner Wine Company included a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in Carneros. Rather than acquiring estate vineyards, the brand works in collaboration with multiple growers throughout California. In April 2016, the brand was sold to Constellation Brands, one of the world's largest wine groups.