1997 Palmer Reserve Merlot

We had this 1997 Palmer Reserve Merlot last evening with our friends. My husband made a wild game cassoulet that paired excellently with this 16 year old wine. The color was tawny around the edges and some sediment had collected on the sides of the bottle indicative of it's age and the fact that it may not have been fined, which is fine with us. The fruit and acid was still going strong. The nose was of red berries and cherries with a hint of leather and had a long finish.
I wanted to know how the year stacked up so went looking on the Internet and found a vintage chart from Wine Enthusiast that gave ratings for vintages in the United States from 1990 to 2010. For a 1997 red from Long Island, the Wine Enthusiast gave that vintage 89 points. The sidebar also had color coded that the wine might be in it's decline and may be undrinkable. In the case of this 1997 Palmer Reserve Merlot, I would have to disagree. We procured about 8 bottles at possibly fire sale prices, which worked for us. We also looked again on the Internet and found that the winemaker was Tom Drozd who, as of 2006 is winemaker at Pelligrini.