By Rick VanSickle
Sometimes you come across a single wine that for myriad reasons just totally blow you away.
The right fruit, spice, elegance and flavours that bring to mind some of the great wines that are locked in the sensory memory banks only to be conjured up when the right conditions are met.
When you experience that you want to shout it from the rooftops. Having a blog as your soapbox is the modern-day equivalent of the megaphones of old. So, now I’m shouting.
Pillitteri winemaker Dr. Marc P. Bradshaw had crafted one hell of wine with his Exclamation Merlot Reserve 2007, to be released this coming fall for $30 at the winery.
Bradshaw is a brash and exciting winemaker who’s not afraid to be innovative with his wines, new techniques and experimentation with fermentations. He already has a great reputation with Pillitteri’s icewine program, the most diverse and exciting in Niagara. (See story on Pillitteri icewines here.)
But, wow, his reserve merlot from the spectacular 2007 vintage, is something to behold.
Bradshaw sensed something was special about this wine when he sent it over for review months before it’s set to be released.
Here’s what he said in a note along with the wine:
My 2007 Merlot Reserve was produced from a blend of pigeage and remontage fermentation of some of my fave fruit chosen specifically from selected potions of the vineyards. The wine underwent full malo-lactic fermentation in primarily older oak barrels, with maturation for 27 months. Minimum filtration was performed prior to bottling. I think she is too young to be released as of yet, but again, I’m hoping you can drink through that and enjoy the wine, foreseeing the possibilities down the track.
Sipping this merlot is extraordinary. Earth tones, bramble fruit, currants, spicy and meaty notes on the nose. It erupts on the palate with black cherry, small wild berries, kirsch, herbs, mocha spice and a lovely smooth texture. The tannins hint a long life.
And, I disagree with Dr. Bradshaw on one thing. This wine is ready to be released now as long as consumers make sure to decant it for an hour or two prior to drinking it.
Merlot as a single variety is so difficult to make in Niagara. Reif makes a fabulous merlot, but after that not many are consistently making a decent wine out of this grape that needs the dry and hot of a vintage such as 2007.
I’m a huge fan of merlot (I almost cried when it was maligned in the movie Sideways), both from Bordeaux and Napa Valley from mountain fruit. Bradshaw’s wine is somewhere in the middle of the two. Opulent fruitiness of Napa, finesse and structure of Bordeaux.
You do not want to miss this release.
Comment here