Merlot. There, I said it. Merlot, Merlot, Merlot.
In the minds of many, Merlot is a very bad swear word. It is that most polarizing of grape varieties. Famously thrashed by that dude Miles in the movie Sideways (“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!”) and ridiculed the world over for its chunkiness, plonkiness, its uninspiring sameness of soft, fat red berries and, well, soft, fat red berries. In other words, in need of a spine.
Somewhere along the line, Merlot become the most comfortable (in a down-filled pillow sort of way) wine money could buy. It was like a great wool sweater that feels so right when you’re wearing it, yet you know is all so wrong. It was quickly abandoned and mocked by the nouveau wine drinker and sommeliers alike and was quickly dispatched to the uncool wine pile. It became wine voted least likely to impress your friends.
However, after the lowly Thompson seedless grape, it still remains in a neck and neck tie with Cabernet Sauvignon as the most planted grape in the world. So, someone out there is drinking this stuff.
Merlot definitely has (or had?) an image problem. But, in actual fact, it’s not unlike Chardonnay, Riesling or Cabernet Sauvignon. Grapes that are mass-produced the world over are bound to end up as crap wines. That’s not a Merlot thing, it’s a wine thing. We have to remember the vast majority of wine drinkers won’t pay more than $10 for a bottle.
For the rest of us, we should never under-estimate the power of a Merlot done right. Of course, there’s Pomerol, perhaps the greatest expression of Merlot in the entire world. The mostly small-sized producers in this area of Bordeaux use Merlot as the main component in its blends, some even using 100% of the grape. The predominant grape variety is Merlot, often with Cabernet Franc and smaller quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Unlike other Bordeaux regions, Pomerol has no official wine ranking or classification. However, wines such Château Pétrus and Château Le Pin are priced as high as the classified first growths of the Pauillac and Saint-Émilion. Merlot also over-performs in surprising regions, such as the higher elevations in Napa Valley. Spring Mountain comes to mind. It is one my favourite areas for Merlot and I can remember visiting Paloma Vineyards and being struck by the beauty of its Merlot before it hit the big time when the 2001 vintage was named the Wine of the Year by Wine Spectator (right about the time Miles was spewing venom about the grape).
Other regions such as Washington and the Okanagan Valley produce some very fine Merlots either on their own or blended with Cab. Sauv., Cab. Franc, Malbec or Petit Verdot. In Niagara? Well, everyone tries very hard, but mostly the interesting Merlots are blended into that catch-all category of Cab.-Merlot. Merlot has always been a great blending variety to give the wine fruit, balance and some pretty, soft features. Generally Merlot has a medium body with notes of red berry, plum, and currant. Its softness and "fleshiness," combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.
There have been noted success stories with Merlot in Niagara: Creekside Reserve Merlot Queenston Road Vineyard 2007, Lailey Merlot 2010, Rosewood Natural Fermented Reserve Merlot 2010, Pillitteri Exclamation Reserve Merlot 2007, Hillebrand RHS Clark Farm Vineyard Merlot 2010 and the Malivoire Stouck Vineyard Merlot 2010, but the successes have not been enough to pole vault Merlot alongside Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Caberent Franc as Niagara’s A-listers. Which brings me to a recent find.
Far off the beaten track of the Beamsville Bench, in a little sweet spot called Winona, Ilya Senchuk and his young family have planted roots. Senchuk has been busy, first buying a farmhouse that sits on 11 acres of agriculture-zoned land in the Lincoln-Lakeshore sub-appellation. It came with an abandoned vineyard that hadn’t been tended in over 20 years. He cleared the land and planted five acres in July to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
You may know Senchuk as the winemaker at Foreign Affair, a job he has left temporarily while on parental leave (he and his wife Nadia have a new addition to the family, a nine-month old boy), or as the owner and winemaker for his own label Leaning Post.
His launch of Leaning Post was well received by consumers and critics and has its roots in the virtual winery movement. But now that he has planted his once fallow field to grapes, what you need to do to get a manufacturing licence, he has now become a full-fledged winery. He made his first wines in the winery barn last year and will open a rustic tasting room and retail facility as soon as he gets the retail licence (this will be where you can get the 2010 wines, hopefully sometime this fall, or you try them now at restaurants such as Treadwell, Canoe or Jamie Kennedy’s Windows).
Senchuk’s first “non-virtual” releases will be the two wines he made in 2010 — the Leaning Post Pinot Noir Lowrey Vineyard (St. David’s Bench) and the 2010 McCleary Vineyard (Lincoln Lakeshore) Merlot.
And, what a Merlot it is!
This is what low yields, attention to detail, a warm Niagara vintage and a talented winemaker can do to a grape such as Merlot. So, in that spirit, we offer five Merlots from Niagara that just might change your mind about this grape forever.
Leaning Post McCleary Vineyard Merlot 2010 ($38, 93 points) — This wine shocked me from the moment it hit my glass. It has such a deep ruby red colour and aromas that won’t quit. Super concentrated black cherry, cassis, currants, smoky meat, lavish spices and toasty vanilla jump from the glass. This spectacular wine spent 25 months in mostly French oak barrels (a little Hungarian) with two of the barrels new, and three of them neutral. It’s thick and rich on the palate with exuberant dark fruits to go with loam, tar, graphite, spices and a nice anise-licorice accent through the long finish. It’s built to last and improve for years as the tannins soften, but I wouldn’t turn it down now with a great meal in front of me — especially if there was beef involved!
Daniel Lenko Old Vines Merlot 2010 ($40, winery, 90 points)— Lenko’s Old Vines Beamsville Bench Merlot spends 18 months in a mix of new and older French and American oak barrels. It starts with black cherry, blueberry and kirsch notes with added licorice, field raspberry, bramble, earth and toasted vanilla and spices. It is but a pup on the palate with the tautness of youth, tight tannic structure and ripe red and dark fruits just beginning to open up. There are a lot of moving parts here but the ingredients are all there to come into wonderful harmony with time in the cellar.
Daniel Lenko Meritage 2010 ($60, winery 93 points) — This is Lenko’s signature wine made with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and only produced in top vintages such as 2010. Make no mistake about it, this is one of Niagara’s top meritage blends and you have to be patient to experience the best this wine will give. Like other top Niagara Bordeaux blends from great vintages (think 2007 and 2002), they need time for the tannins, oak and fruit to integrate and soften. But, this wine has it all. The cassis, cherry-raspberry, blue plums, bramble bush, mocha, nutmeg, firm oak and spice stylings, vanilla toast and scorched earth notes all play a part on the nose. The fruits are bold and ripe on the palate with earth, roasted espresso bean, nutmeg and vanilla all chiming in against a bed of firm tannins. This is a big wine that will need time with a huge reward in five or 10 years. Buy, hold and enjoy!
The Foreign Affair Dream 2011 ($29, winery, 90 points) — Made with 25% dried grapes, it is a blend of Merlot, Cab. Franc, Petit Verdot and Cab. Sauv. A lovely rich and bold nose of cherry-kirsch, cassis, black currant jam, oak spices and earthy notes. At almost 15% alcohol, it’s a big wine with the fruit to back it up. Look for cassis, cherry, plum, anise, eucalypt and well-integrated herbs and spice that are layered on the palate. A healthy dose of acid and fine tannins add to the pleasure.
Featherstone Red Tail Merlot 2011 ($20, Vintages in November, winery now, 88 points) — The nose on this 100% French-oak aged Merlot displays bright raspberry-cherry fruit and soft red plums, currants and spice. This is a mellow Merlot with lovely red fruit flavours and sweet oak notes.
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