Figgins Family Wine Estates Leonetti Cellar Merlot 2023 750ml

Lovely brightness of fruit here, with dark plums, cherries, raspberries and chocolate orange. Some tobacco leaves, too. Roasted espresso notes come through. Full-bodied with creamy, broad tannins. Excellent concentration and depth. Drink from 2025. (James Suckling)

A dark and alluring bouquet of steeped plums and crushed blueberries emerges from the 2021 Merlot, lifted by hints of mint and sweet spice. Seamlessly silky and elegant yet cooling and fresh, this leads with its mineral component as polished wild berry fruits slowly settle upon the senses. A wall of tannin amasses through the finish, clenching the palate with youthful poise. The 2021 finishes long and hauntingly dark, with a bitter blackberry tinge. Bury this deep in the cellar. (Eric Guido)

Precise and focused like a laser, this red serves up deeply layered black currant, espresso and savory allspice flavors that build tension toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2032. 1,439 cases made. (Tim Fish)

Always bottled early, the 2020 Merlot is all varietal from a mix of sites in the Walla Walla Valley. It has a juicy, medium to full-bodied, chewy style on the palate as well as good purity in its ripe red and blue fruits, notes of tobacco, scorched earth, and graphite-like aromatics. It has some grippy, chalk tannins, and while rock-solid today, it’s not a wine to hide away in the cellar. (Jeb Dunnuck)