I have encountered some pretty big merlots on The Granite Belt but nothing quite like this. Drought year grapes, amplified fruit power and fruit weight, big wine for The Granite Belt! Warren usually makes a fruit driven merlot that is enjoyable and easy drinking as a youngster. His 2018 departed somewhat from that recipe and was a wine that would cellar a number of years, this one has significantly accelerated that style change.
Deeply and quite darkly coloured in the glass, bright and reflective and revving to the upper range of medium bodied – this wine has a powerful engine for a Granite Belt Merlot. The bouquet is loaded with black cherries, dark plums, raspberries and spices, it begins sour/savoury and finishes with just a little sweetness. A big palate that encompasses the promise of everything in the bouquet , fruits are black cherries, plums and raspberries, there is black pepper, some cloves and graphite and a little tobacco. A mainly savoury wine with a little underlying sweet aspect, well balanced acid, some cedar oak, and quite remarkable tannins that aren’t at all shy in revealing themselves later on the palate, they are quite fine but also almost chewable and produce a quite lively and enjoyable dryness as the wine finishes with genuine length.
For my palate this wine needs years, at first there is just a little tart toward the finish but this changes the longer the wine breathes and is also modified by food and will soften with development. Many years of development are ahead, if you want to drink Warren’s merlot young then tuck into some earlier vintages or even the 2018 if you are feeling a little sacrilegious. Twelve months on aged French and American oak, the label says, “will suit short term cellaring” but this 2019 can safely sleep beyond a decade in your cellar.
Tasted: Friday 12th June, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $30
Suggested Drinking Window: 2021 to 2030
Winemaker: Warren Smith
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