TN: Merlot Based Wines

Notes on a blind tasting of merlots – the guidelines were that a wine must have at least 50% merlot content.
First, some starters.

2008 Philipponnat Champagne Grand Blanc Extra Brut – a nice nose with some maturity, lemon and brioche, a clean sophisticated wine on palate and with a lengthy finish. Very pleasant. I did up some Phyllo cups filled with crème fraiche and topped with either smoked salmon or caviar to accompany it.

2016 Zorah Voski – this white had us going in circles until the elevation and general area was defined and I guessed Mt. Ararat. Initially the nose was strongly of sulphur, but that dissipated and allowed the underlying fruit to peek out. Interesting blend of native Armenian grapes, Vosceat and Garandmak (I got to add to new grapes to my life list at once!). Fascinating blend of mineral and fuit flavours, good length and terminal acidity.

2007 Tinhorn Creek Merlot – a late release wine from a BC winery, this was a wine I bought on first release maybe 12 years ago, decent and unassuming. It has held very well – now lighter in colour and with a warm nutty nose and dry finish.

2006 Leonetti Merlot – corked

1973 Sterling Vineyards Merlot – although I have very few 1970s American wines left in my cellar, I have had tremendous luck with them over the years. This was a good one! It has become a medium orange colour with light edges, has a really nice claret nose and there was adequate fruit on palate. Medium length.

1996 Pahlmeyer Merlot – my wine, bought around 2000 when a very small amount came up to BC. When I researched it, I found that RP gave it some of his most effusive prose and declared it the very best merlot from California that he’d tasted. In fact I’ll quote his review:

The wine is opaque black/purple-colored, with a knock-out nose of plums, black cherries, chocolate, raspberries, licorice, and toasty new oak. Viscous in the mouth, with superb purity, this is a riveting, mind-boggling Merlot that sets a new reference point for this varietal in California. It can be drunk now, but has the potential to last for 15 or more years. 97 points

Well, it is now a quarter of a century old (and the first bottle I have opened – I like them with age), and this one was still in fine shape, and more to my taste with some of the baby fat and (to me, excessive) sweet fruit having toned down. Still very dark in colour, with a nose of sweet fruit with some cola and lots of blueberry and spice and a very long finish. Lovely wine. Thank you Helen Turley! No rush at all on this one.

2010 Sette Ponti Orma Toscana IGT – Bolgheri super Tuscan made near Ornellaia, this wine had exactly 50% merlot (the rest CS and CF). It showed a warmish nose of spiced blackberry with hits of anise and vanilla. As I type this I am tasting the last if this and it is holding up well despite being open for a day. I suspect that it is just coming together and has a lot of life ahead.

2010 Craggy Range Sophia Gimblett Gravels – a wine in a heavy bottle with a heavy price, this was ark, with a cocoa/cedar nose, fairly full bodied and with medium length finish, Very nice.

2002 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière – dark with a warm merlot nose, blackberry/blackcurrant fruit, softening tannins, ready to drink.

2011 Tenuta Santa Maria Merlot Decima Aurea – this Bertani wine had a slightly bricky edges, a mocha cocoa nose that betrayed the fact that half the fruit was made appassimento style as they do for Amarone with dried grapes. It did not, however make this wine seem very Amarone-ish. It had a dry finish with enough acidity to have been a tip off of origin.

1993 Château les Roques Loupiac – I pulled this old sweet white from the cellar to go with cheese, with a certain amount of trepidation, anticipating that it might underwhelm, but that was far from the case. Less sweet and concentrated than a Sauternes, this was ideal with the cheese and proved to be in fine shape. Wish I had more!

merlot.jpg

[Jenise]

My notes, not in your order:

1993 Château les Roques Loupiac Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc Blend
Bill's, and one of only two bottles of same in the entire CT universe. He probably owns the other one, too. A very refreshing dessert wine, very tangerine with great acidity, light in texture yet complex enough for a cheese course.

2011 Tenuta Santa Maria Merlot Decima Aurea Veneto IGT
Interesting winemaking here in that half the fruit was processed in the style of an amarone, lending the wine heft and a flavor of advanced development beyond its bottle age--more ripe than bright. Garnet color with ripe nose, sassy red fruit and dark chocolate but didn't think it had the right balance between tannins and acidity.

2002 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière St. Émilion Grand Cru Red Bordeaux Blend
My bottle and one of my favorites of the tasting in that it was so perfectly THERE. 100% of what it had to give was fully on display in a proud mockery of critics' low expectations. Vivid black currant and marionberry fruit, good acidity, easy tannins, great finish.

2010 Craggy Range Merlot Single Vineyard Gimblett Gravels Vineyard
Darkest merlot present. Cocoa and blueberry fruit with cedar, vanilla bean and fresh basil; hefty body. Barely middle aged, lots of time and interesting development ahead. I note that most recent notes on CT think this wine's done--must be a lot of bottle variation out there.

1996 Pahlmeyer Merlot Napa Valley
What an impressive wine. Hard to believe it's 25 years old. Nose of violets and cola. On the palate more cola with black plum, luxardo cherry and dark chocolate covering the finish. Fantastic weight and purity. Parker predicted it would age "15 years or more". Way beyond that now and lots of runway left. Magnificent.

2007 Tinhorn Creek Merlot Okanagan Valley VQA
Comfortably aged with light, warm fruit--a daily drinker style of aged merlot.

1973 Sterling Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley
Oolong tea color. Tertiary notes of leather, orange peel and caramel adorn more than adequate fruit for a 1973 'regular'. Enchanting, attractively necrotic nose.

2008 Philipponnat Champagne Grand Blanc Chardonnay
Coop's bottle, served blind. Surprised this was a blanc as well as an 08. I guessed '02 and Blanc de Noir. Hint of toffee in the color and very rich notes of vanilla pudding and brioche on lemon and pear fruit.

2006 Leonetti Cellar Merlot Columbia Valley
My wine. CORKED.

2016 Zorah Voski Vayots Dzor White Blend
When given a chance to bring an opening white I jumped at the chance to bring this, my last of four bottles of a wine I've loved very much that offers exceptional quality from grapes no one's ever heard of from a place most haven't tasted wine from. As geek bait goes, it doesn't get any better than that. Well, as anticipated, this talented group of tasters went straight to Chablis then hit a wall trying to pin down origins because who on earth guesses grapes like garandmak grown just down the hill from Noah's Ark. They were as flummoxed and impressed as I knew they'd be. It's Dauvissat-like.

[b] and marionberry fruit

Wouldn't have associated the former Mayor of the District of Columbia with this wine, but agree with everything else.....

PS - a nice tasting with a great quality level.

Thanks for the 2010 Craggy Range Sophia note in particular, I'll wait on the one bottle I have.

[Jenise]

Addendum: yesterday I traded in the corked Leonetti for another bottle. This particular retailer has a stash of Leonettis he keeps on their sides in a cold room in back so the bottles are as pristeen as anything you can buy at retail. Anyway, his name is Doug and we got onto the topic of old merlots--I mentioned your Pahlmeyer and the Sterling. He described an event about ten years ago where a bunch of industry peeps did a tasting on the theme '78's From Anywhere. Most were cabs, though notably Gary Figgins was there with his '78 Merlot (his first vintage). Anyway, the WOTN? Hands down? A Chateau Ste Michelle Merlot regular. I guess the early CSMs were a whole lot different than what they are today.

I guess the early CSMs were a whole lot different than what they are today.

They were indeed. When we were car racing in WA we would sometimes visit the winery and they were doing all sorts of small lot stuff, some of which was very good. I lost track of them after that as they never had a market up here for the small lots stuff and I rarely went anywhere near the winery again. That was in the late 70s - early 80s.

Because we ever saw their more interesting stuff in BC, their reputation here was basically for dependable lower end level wines.

[Jenise]

A friend of mine in the neighborhood is a CSM retiree and avails himself often of the generous 50% off benefit extended to all retirees, and I therefore get to taste a lot of the small lot stuff. The small lot stuff is generally more interesting, but even there they lean in the direction of more oak and RS than you or I would find necessary. That's just become the winery's signature style.

That has been the American winemaking 'disease' since the 80s, exacerbated by Mondavi's Woodbridge ad campaign equating oak with quality.

[Jenise]

I get why you say that but honestly it's not routinely true of Washington or California wines the way it is of CSM--yes American wines will usually be sweeter than European wines but among Washington wines wines CSM wines stand out for their sweetness. And there's a market for that, which Bob Berthau smartly played to.