The 2019 Pedestal Merlot was made with 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Malbec. The nose opens with a firm backbone of fresh and ripe black plums and dark cherries before delightful oaky essences sway from the glass with notions of baked earth. Full-bodied, the palate offers a firm mouthfeel that lifts with time to reveal a succulent tannic edge and juicy flavors of spiced plums and blackberry skin with brown baking spices, vanilla and nutmeg that resonate with vibrancy and power. The wine continues to evolve and reveal elegant complexities before ending with a long spicy finish with delightful oak tones. Just under 32,000 bottles were filled after the wine rested for 22 months in all French oak, 86% new barrels.

Dark-fruited and with a dense and inky core, the 2018 Pedestal Merlot offers aromas of resinous purple flowers with hints of oak and blackberry jus. Full-bodied and firm on the palate, the deep and complex expression will take another year to fill out its shoes. The wine ahs firm gripping tannins across the mid-palate along with a tight mineral tension, then lingers with persistent notions of spiced plum compote and graphite. Give it another year in the bottle, and then drink it over the next 10 to 12 years.

The 2017 Pedestal Merlot has a dense nose with a heavyweight expression and inky character in the glass. Offering blackberry jus, spiced plum preserves and dark cherry skin, the scents are lifted and compounded by rich, elegant oak spices, cigar box and juicy tobacco. Full-bodied, the wine is generously ripe and juicy with tones of graphite and a balanced structure, ending with a long, complex finish. The expression continues to evolve in the mouth after the wine has left the palate, showing elevated alcohol with dark blackberry tones, bitter dark chocolate and pencil shavings. Give it some time in the bottle before opening, or decant for an hour.

The 2016 Pedestal Merlot has a precise nose of dusty plum, red flowers and soft oak tones with an elegant aroma of pencil lead fluttering about. The medium to full-bodied palate is clean and correct, with plush dark red fruit, dusty tannins, purple flowers and soft oak spices of vanilla, cardamom and nutmeg. The wine ends with a long, thoughtful, well-balanced finish that delivers complexity and pleasure simultaneously. Michel Rolland made this beauty of a bottle.

The 2015 Pedestal Merlot is a rich, dramatic wine that wafts from the glass with aromas of black cherries, crème de cassis, cigar tobacco and mocha. On the palate, it's broad, full-bodied and lavish, with ripe, generously oak-inflected flavors and an ample core of fruit, structured by fine-grained but youthfully chewy tannins, concluding with a sweet, spicy and somewhat heady finish. The most exotic and expressive wine in the Long Shadows range, it's crafted by Michel Rolland.