A leg of lamb and a Reserve Merlot – it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere
I simply cannot help myself but when I think of Merlot, I think about the movie in which … – no let us not go there. So, when I started writing about my latest Merlot experience this morning, I thought it might make sense to ask online service Wikipedia how they defined Merlot to get a sort of neutral look at the variety: “Merlot is a red wine grape that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines.”
Reserve Merlot Cuttaway Hill
Autsch, that doesn’t help either, a blending grape, but honestly: there are many fine Merlot producers in the Bordeaux region in France and in Australia alone, there were more than 125,000 tonnes of this variety produced in 2008.
Time to have a closer look at an Australian Merlot, not blended but standing on its own, especially with a nice roast of lamb for dinner already in the oven:
My choice: the 2006 Reserve Merlot from Cuttaway Hill, of the largest vineyard properties in the Southern Highlands. The wine is bright purple in colour, its bouquet full of dark ripe fruit and chocolate. I give it an hour after opening it as the bottle was stored in a rather cold cellar, mainly due to the frosty nights of this week.
When I take the first sips, I am amazed: this Reserve Merlot develops rich fruit characters on the palate and shows a very nice length. On the bottle they recommend celaring to 2013, knowing the many Merlot fans in the Southern Highlands I suspect most of their bottles gone by then.
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Der australische Winter zehrt mit heftigen Winden an uns, die wir gerade erst aus dem warmen Europa zurueck gekehrt sind. Abends ist es Zeit fuer einen Reserve Merlot von Cuttaway Hill, ich selbst bin kein ueberzeugter Merlot Fan, doch dieser Reserve mundet mir vorzueglich. Ein besonders fruchtiger Charakter und eine schoene Laenge machen diesen Wein zu einem perfekten Tropfen fuer das Lamm, welches heute auf unserem Tisch steht.
Ihr Michael Brecht
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