2019 Forthright Merlot Oak Knoll District Napa Valley

Twenty years ago, the film Sideways nearly ended Merlot in America overnight. Forthright Winery was built to answer it.

Four longtime friends — Patrick McEvoy and Rafer Caudill in the cellar, Ed Stritch in Chicago, and Sel Sanliturk in London — pooled their love of the grape into a tiny Napa cave operation making roughly 2,000 cases a year across all their wines, hand-crafted from start to finish by McEvoy and Caudill themselves. The name is the philosophy: direct, honest, no apologies for making Merlot the centerpiece.

The grapes come from the Oak Knoll District, the cool southern corner of Napa Valley just north of the city, where marine influence from San Pablo Bay slows ripening and keeps the fruit bright — the same conditions that made this AVA famous for Merlot before Cabernet took over the headlines.

The wine spends years in barrel before bottling (older vintages saw 36 to 60 months), then more time resting on the producer's part before release, so what arrives in your glass is already mature and ready to drink.

The 2019 has been the wine that proved the point. It took 93 points and Wine of the Year by Varietal for Merlot at the 2024 Sommeliers Choice Awards, then went on to claim Best Merlot of the Year at the 2025 USA Wine Ratings — a competition judged entirely by U.S. retail and on-premise buyers.

At 15.3% alcohol with a plush, grainy, full-bodied palate, this is a Merlot built for people who drink Napa Cabernet. Which is exactly what Patrick and Rafer have been saying all along.