The Wine Fairy

This whole #MerlotThursday journey has been full of pleasant surprises–and one of the biggest surprises has been how well Merlot can age.

Before I started tasting Merlot for the blog, I mostly drank it young (if I thought to drink it at all). Its simple, agreeable flavors seemed antithetical to aging potential. Does a bar of milk chocolate taste better after a few years in the pantry? Does a bag of cherries, forgotten in a produce drawer in the fridge, continue to develop nuance and depth? (I can say from experience that it does not.)

Of course, I knew about the esteemed, cellar-worthy cuvées of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. But even more ordinary Merlots can develop fascinating flavors with some bottle age. That was the case with this teenage Italian red from Friuli in northeastern Italy.

My bottle was left over from a recent importer event at a trusted wine bar, so I have good reason to believe it was professionally stored. But shouldn’t the 2012 have been opened a while ago? There’s only one way to find out!

Deep garnet with a thick, silty sediment. Powerful nose of British brown sauce (savory herbs, dates and such), fresh red cherry, plum pickles, crushed mint, rose potpourri, wet earth. A medium-plus body with flavors of sour black plum, cherry juice, soy sauce, sorrel/dandelion leaf, and some meaty notes of beef jerky and barnyard.

As the fruit fades, there’s some lingering flavors of blackberry leaf tea and dusty black pepper. Structurally, this is a mature wine with medium soft tannins, inconspicuous alcohol, and acidity that’s probably technically medium, but feels brighter due to the pickled-plum flavors that make up much of this Merlot’s fruit profile.

I wasn’t entirely sure how to score this wine–but I’m scoring it high because I really liked drinking it. I dig its rusticity, intriguing savory flavors, and the sour power of its fruit. (Maybe deduct a couple of points if that’s not your jam.) This is a “drink now” wine, obviously–unless your curiosity about aging inexpensive Italian Merlot surpasses mine.

While I was enjoying my by-the-glass pour, a couple of inquisitive wine lovers walked into the bar and ordered the rest of the bottle. Tasting together, we all noted the animal aromas but couldn’t agree on language for them.

I kept thinking of this tasting-science passage in Pascaline Lepeltier’s One Thousand Vines (which I just started attempting to read). She writes about how one person’s “white truffle” is another person’s “rotten egg”–but it’s all just dimethyl sulphide if you want to deploy your descriptors with true precision.

Speaking of technical stuff, it was difficult to find production specs for this wine because it is an older vintage from a small-ish family estate. According to Sant’Elena’s website, they are currently in organic conversion and aim for low yields for their red wines (one bottle per vine). Currently, the winemaker de-stems the Merlot fruit, ferments it in stainless steel after a 10-day maceration period, and ages it in 2000-liter barrels for 18 months.

Bottle: Sant’ Elena Merlot Venezia Giulia IGT (2012)

Variety: Merlot (100%)

ABV: 13.5%

Suggested retail: $23

My rating: 8.5

On Thursdays, we Merlot! Pour yourself a glass and join in. (You can view archived #MerlotThursday reviews here.)

Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.