Which Paso Robles winery makes the best Merlot?
Whitcomb & Naveau, at a Crux Score of 96. Cruxvine scores 18 Paso Robles producers whose lead grape is Merlot; their median score is 87 and their median bottle is $75.
Every Paso Robles producer Cruxvine scores whose lead grape is Merlot, ranked. Median Crux Score 87, median bottle $75.
A Merlot built for its second decade in bottle, with a tasting room scoring 100 for the people who will not wait that long.
Ninety-nine points on 55% estate fruit: Highland Cellars buys brilliantly and charges $113 for the result.
Nine thousand cases and a quality score of 97: the wine has outgrown both the room and the pricing.
A 95-point room pouring 95-point Merlot, on 40% estate fruit that the house does not pretend otherwise about.
El Pomar Merlot at $61 that walks in off the street: 90 points, full additions published, twenty dollars to sit down.
Four wines, one of them the Merlot that earns the 93, and a $50 fee that Templeton Gap increasingly assumes you will pay.
A value score of 96 at $72 across eighteen wines, and 2024 is the vintage that finally beat 2016.
Declines to disclose its additions and owns no vineyard, which is 70 for transparency and an honest zero for estate fruit.
| # | Producer & verdict | Crux | Avg | Value | Δ med 87 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Whitcomb & Naveau Templeton Gap District · Merlot · Templeton A Merlot built for its second decade in bottle, with a tasting room scoring 100 for the people who will not wait that long. | 96 | $101 | 86 | +9 | |
| =5 | Highland Cellars Willow Creek District · Merlot · Paso Robles Ninety-nine points on 55% estate fruit: Highland Cellars buys brilliantly and charges $113 for the result. | 94 | $113 | 79 | +7 | |
| =9 | Oyster Crossing Adelaida District · Merlot · Paso Robles Nine thousand cases and a quality score of 97: the wine has outgrown both the room and the pricing. | 93 | $94 | 80 | +6 | |
| =19 | Prewitt Bench Santa Margarita Ranch · Merlot · Santa Margarita A 95-point room pouring 95-point Merlot, on 40% estate fruit that the house does not pretend otherwise about. | 91 | $88 | 79 | +4 | |
| =30 | Yost & Orsini El Pomar District · Merlot · Templeton El Pomar Merlot at $61 that walks in off the street: 90 points, full additions published, twenty dollars to sit down. | 90 | $61 | 87 | +3 | |
| =37 | Draycott Trail Templeton Gap District · Merlot · Templeton Four wines, one of them the Merlot that earns the 93, and a $50 fee that Templeton Gap increasingly assumes you will pay. | 89 | $94 | 78 | +2 | |
| =37 | Mabry & Vantrease Paso Robles Highlands District · Merlot · Creston A value score of 96 at $72 across eighteen wines, and 2024 is the vintage that finally beat 2016. | 89 | $72 | 96 | +2 | |
| =57 | Calder Draw Creston District · Merlot · Creston Declines to disclose its additions and owns no vineyard, which is 70 for transparency and an honest zero for estate fruit. | 87 | $64 | 88 | ±0 | |
| =57 | Foxglen Mesa Willow Creek District · Merlot · Paso Robles Publishes everything it adds and grows 55% of what it presses — Foxglen Mesa is a Willow Creek négociant that tells you so. | 87 | $75 | 80 | ±0 | |
| =57 | Hallow Estate Santa Margarita Ranch · Merlot · Santa Margarita Fourteen thousand cases founded in 2012 that already hold 90 for consistency; the Merlot is the one to order. | 87 | $68 | 90 | ±0 | |
| =76 | Fairbourne Bend Adelaida District · Merlot · Paso Robles Adelaida's oldest house, founded 1972, asking $101 for Merlot that scores 89 — value at 70 says the seniority is priced in. | 86 | $101 | 70 | −1 | |
| =88 | Yost & Halloran Paso Robles Estrella District · Merlot · Paso Robles The 2024 is the best wine Yost & Halloran has made, which makes the $50 fee easier to justify than it was. | 85 | $83 | 72 | −2 | |
| =104 | Boye Bluff Paso Robles Highlands District · Merlot · Creston Eight hundred cases, five wines, $91, and a room at 75 — a wine club with a tasting bar. | 84 | $91 | 77 | −3 | |
| =118 | Cripple Row Paso Robles Geneseo District · Merlot · Paso Robles Seventeen wines at $47 from 40% estate fruit, walk-in — Cripple Row sells breadth cheaply and makes no claim beyond that. | 83 | $47 | 86 | −4 | |
| =118 | Old Creek Wash Creston District · Merlot · Creston Publishes its full additions list at $46 with value at 89: quality of 80 is the honest ceiling, and nobody here pretends otherwise. | 83 | $46 | 89 | −4 | |
| =118 | Pennock Cellars San Juan Creek · Merlot · Shandon Fourteen thousand cases, seven wines, fifteen dollars, walk in — competent San Juan Creek Merlot and no story attached. | 83 | $71 | 79 | −4 | |
| =147 | Fenwick & Sable Santa Margarita Ranch · Merlot · Santa Margarita Six wines from fourteen hundred cases, named pours, fifteen dollars — small, cheap, and entirely undocumented. | 81 | $63 | 75 | −6 | |
| =176 | Barn Bench Paso Robles Highlands District · Merlot · Creston Five wines, eight hundred cases, transparency at 62 — the least documented producer in the appellation. | 77 | $50 | 83 | −10 |
Whitcomb & Naveau, at a Crux Score of 96. Cruxvine scores 18 Paso Robles producers whose lead grape is Merlot; their median score is 87 and their median bottle is $75.
Among the 18 Paso Robles producers Cruxvine scores with Merlot as their lead grape, the median Crux Score is 87, against 85 for the appellation across all grapes.