Appearance: Dark Maroon

Nose: Berry fruits

Palate: Berry fruits and spice, smooth tannins

Merlot is not generally know for its longevity in the bottle, and if my cellar has a fault its that I don't rotate the wines through it often enough.

This wine is a prime example of why it is some times best to enjoy wines now and not hold them over to another day.  The wine was still clean and bright from the bottle with a strong nose of berry fruits and a good palate combining the berry flavours (Mulberry and Black berry) with a spiciness (reminiscent of cinnamon, and nutmeg) with a velvety tannin, but a lack of palate length and body to the wine indicated that it may have been held past its prime

This wine was enjoyed with a Pasta Ragu.

An excellent wine, that was starting to show its age. Structure was still well balanced showing a vibrancy of its youth but also the effects of age.

(This wine was purchased by the reviewer and the opinions here are my own)