Merryvale Vineyards

BUILDING ON A NAPA VALLEY LEGACY 
Our Profile Collection wines, the proprietary red blend Profile and the Silhouette Chardonnay exemplify the best of each harvest and uphold a legacy of more than 30 years of winemaking history in Napa Valley. The first Profile was crafted in 1983 from the finest Napa Valley grapes of the vintage. Silhouette Chardonnay was introduced in 1993 with the same goal: to produce a wine that demonstrates the best of each harvest from outstanding vineyard sources. The Schlatter family has taken this goal one step further with the development of estate vineyard sources for both Profile and Silhouette that have served to promote fruit quality and provide a sustainable future for generations to come. Proprietors René and Laurence Schlatter have propelled the Profile Collection into a new chapter with vision, integrity and a passionate commitment to quality. Join us for what may be our finest wines to date.

ESTATE VINEYARDS 
Great vineyards inspire great wines, and both Profile and Silhouette have a pedigree that includes some of Napa’s most renowned vineyards. One of the early sources for our Profile red blend was a rocky site perched in the steep hillsides east of St. Helena, high above the fog line, with a mosaic of different soil types, aspects and exposures. In 1996, Jack Schlatter and his son René acquired this historic hillside site and worked closely with viticulturist David Abreu to replant and redesign the vineyard from the ground up. Now known as our Profile Estate Vineyard, these twenty-five planted acres provide fruit with a level of flavor, color and intensity that rivals the best in the world. For nearly ten years, the fruit for our Silhouette Chardonnay was sourced from select vineyards throughout Napa Valley. In 2003, our family acquired a vineyard parcel on the historic Stanly Ranch property in Carneros. Within this parcel, we have identified a gently sloping five-acre block with ideal row orientation, which now provides the luminous fruit we craft into our Silhouette. Our estate vineyards are in their prime. These places and their wines have become our family legacy, nurtured by our commitment to sustain and improve the environment for future generations while showcasing the purest expression of site.

WINEMAKING 
Our approach to winemaking is founded on the premise that complex vineyard sites produce complex wines. We believe that our dedication to a meticulous plant-by-plant approach to farming and use of high-precision viticultural techniques in our estate vineyards allow us to take a more delicate hand in the cellar—more nuance than action. For Profile, each pick is handled separately and fermented in its own tank, cask or barrel where we vary temperature and maceration techniques—such as delestage, pigeage and pump-overs. During aging, we fine tune it one step further by using French oak barrels selected based on forest origin and toast level matched to the traits of each lot. As every year and every wine are different, we modulate racking and total time in barrel with the characteristics of the vintage in mind. Silhouette is barrel fermented; achieving long, native primary and malolactic fermentations, then aged in French oak barrels customized to enhance the integration of oak and flavors, resulting in a white wine with the ability to age for ten years or more. With the ultimate goal of enhancing and respecting the unique character of each vineyard, we carefully tailor each step so that we are rewarded with wines that reflect the personality of the site; wines with power, finesse, complexity and balance—born from the rocks, soils and sunlight that created them.

THE PROFILE ESTATE VINEYARD

A FAMILY ESTATE IN ITS PRIME
• 25 acres planted in 1997 on the steep slopes at the eastern edge of the St. Helena AVA 
• Situated above the fog line at 600–800 feet, with ample light and warmer nights that promote greater concentration 
• 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc 
• A mosaic diversity of aspects, exposures and soil types, including the coveted Forward Kidd, Henneke, gravelly and clay loam

SUSTAINABLE, HIGH-PRECISION VITICULTURE
• Plant-by-plant farming decisions ensure each vine has optimal growth, development, and capacity 
• Organic techniques promote natural health of the soils and surrounding ecosystem 
• Precisely timed and targeted irrigation according to levels of vine stress supports healthy development throughout the growing season 
• Spore traps monitor levels of vineyard mildew activity, allowing us to limit spraying to the minimum necessary 
• Restorative compost tea supports soil vitality, vine health, and superior clusters 
• We harvest ton-by-ton as the fruit achieves perfect ripeness, and vinify each lot separately to preserve its unique characteristics

THE DIFFERENCE IN THE BOTTLE
• Diversity of soils, aspects and exposures yields tremendous variety of fruit flavor, intensity, and structure, which imparts complexity, personality and character to the final blend 
• Even ripening achieves phenolic ripeness without excessive sugar levels, allowing for rich aromatics in perfect balance 
• Hillside fruit offers excellent color, structure and tannin to support extended cellaring and continued evolution over time