Merlot being the best selling red wine on wine lists
in all major province and recently we have seen quality of local Merlot
seriously improving with near perfect extraction, better ripeness and less hard
edge, after all it was the best performing varietal at 2013 Veritas with the
most gold medal garnered, testament of the quality out there, and consumers are
always right, when they asked for a glass of Merlot as their first choice of
red wine!
However at the top end of South Africa’s premium
priced Merlot, is a different ball game, there are a lot of caveat emptors,
overpriced and showy, dead fruit, raisin Merlot, pump with new oak and one have
to thread very carefully, when buying, yet Shannon Vineyards right from the
beginning in 2007 have without a doubt and consistently produced South Africa’s
best Merlot, no debate.
Unapologetically expensive, by local standards, yet
worth every drops and cents.
The style is frame on a cross of modern Pomerol and
half way top Tuscan Merlot (Petra Quercegobbe Toscana Merlot is a great example
and shows similar profile), with the just released 2011 showing textbook
perfume character with a juicy, savory core, crunchy ripe tannin with
impressive purity of fruit, seamless, perfect ripeness, considering the 14.5% abv, totally integrated, embryonic, should reward
those patient enough as this will be an even profound and ,stellar wine in a few years time buy it
now (cost a fraction of a top Pomerol, anyway).
Conservative rating may well rate higher when revisited in a few years!
Conservative rating may well rate higher when revisited in a few years!
Alcohol: very high | 14.5 %abv
Origin: Elgin
Notes: dark plums |blackcurrant | mulberries | graphite | tobacco
Ideal drinking occasions: winter time
Serve with: Bistecca alla Fiorentina
Drink: best from 2018 until 2026+
