This Merlot is about 50% opaque and has started to show some bottle age with a garnet coloring in the glass.  The nose is a touch subdued but I managed to coax ripe plum, coconut, blackberry, cassis, black licorice, cedar and vanilla.  That’s a lot of oak  aromas.  The palate is a touch thin- light bodied, it is dry with well integrated tannins, a medium amount of acidity and primary fruit flavors of plum, blackberry alongside some oak nuance.  It is a bit watery to be honest and not as interesting as the nose.  The finish is relatively short and astringent but I do get some charcoal and blackberry notes.  85 points for this $35 wine makes it a 1 star effort to drink sooner rather than later.  Salut….