94 pts - Wine Advocate
The home property of the successful husband and wife team of winemaking guru Mark Herold and his graphic designer wife, Erika Gottl, Merus has produced a blockbuster 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. These cuvees are made from super-ripe fruit, spend 18-20 months in 100% new French oak (usually Taransaud), and are bottled without fining or filtration. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot and Malbec, the full-bodied, dense 2004 offers notes of blackberries, blueberries, espresso roast, and smoky oak, a super-rich mouthfeel, good freshness and purity, and enough acidity and tannin to provide structure as well as definition. It will be delicious young, but should become more civilized in 4-5 years, and keep for two decades. - Robert Parker
94 pts - Wine Spectator
A big, rich style that packs a wallop of mocha-laced dark berry, black licorice, dusty wood and loamy earth notes, maintaining a wonderful sense of elegance and finesse. The tannins show no sign of subsiding, so drink now if you want to enjoy the robust fruitiness.—2004 California Cabernet blind retrospective (August 2014). Drink now through 2022. 875 cases made. — JL (11/2014)
93 pts - Vinous
(includes 3% malbec and 2% petit verdot) Bright, full medium ruby. Sexy, fruit-driven aromas of black raspberry, crushed blackberry and minerals. Lush, broad and sweet, without being at all overdone. Intensely flavored and vibrant, this fruit bomb shows an enticing sugar/acid balance. Finishes quite broad, with fine-grained tannins. A few years of bottle aging should bring additional complexity.- Stephen Tanzer (05/2007)