Saturday, December 6, 2008

2004 Roberto Voerzio, Da Uva Merlot, Piemonte, Italy

(Glass; Riedel Sommeliers Bordeaux Grand Cru)

It’s not everyday I taste a wine like this. This is the rather limited Merlot from cult producer Roberto Voerzio in Piemonte, where Merlot is not quit that common. The opening of the wine is something else and not at all what I expected. The wine is rock hard and an herbal overload, almost like a green tea. I immediately decided to decant. 1½ hour later the wine had transformed, but the high level of herbs never left the wine. With air the herbs get accompanied by a sweet plum note. Ahh yes, the attentive reader might have noticed that the plum note is something that I dislike and connect with alcohol, but not entirely here. You see – the 14% alcohol is felt with this plum note, but the herbs makes it a lot more refined and cool tempered and combine these two things and the herbal note almost goes into a pine needles note. The nose also has; black fruits, some chocolate and mild level of blueberries. Overall there is brilliant purity, style and personality over this wine, it’s seriously something else. The taste is also surprising – brilliant tight curl around the tongue, strong structure and the herbal touch is also here. Currently you get a little bit of tannin bitterness and the wine is still a baby. A wine with strong personality and refinement – I guess its 4-5 years away from a maturity window.

(Tasted 5/12-2008)

2 comments:

Dennis Hansen said...

Hej Thomas,

Tak for en fin note! - hvordan er niveaet i forhold de Toskanske Merlot vine (e.g. Messorio) - her er jo også det her urtede præg?

Vi savner dine indspil og rafineret noter på snakvin engang i mellem, men så er det jo dejligt vi kan følge med her :-)

Bedste hilsner,

Dennis

Thomas said...

Tak Dennis,

Dette er en virkelig anderledes Merlot – slet ikke at sammenligne med de Toscanske rivaler.

Urterne er der, men de er helt anderledes. I Messorio er det som, at stå i Toscana – omgivet af rosmarinbuske og duften af salvie, basilikum i maden. Her har de mere karakter af ”herb” udtrykket – grøn te eller lignende, samtidigt med, at du har 14% Piemonte alkohol, som gør vinen lidt rå – men kombineret med urterne, bliver den samtidigt også ret raffineret.

Messorio er en større vin – mere kompleks, men jeg er spændt på at se hvordan Voerzio er om 4-5 år. Den har mange spændende lag, som helt sikkert vil udvikle sig.

Jeg har kun en enkelt flaske tilbage, prisen er en anelse hidsig må man sige.

/Thomas