Wine Code Breaker #347

Miles is the somewhat hard to love character from Sideways, a movie that almost killed the sales of Merlot.  He had some self esteem issues; best summed up when he remarked, “half my life is over and I have nothing to show for it.  Nothing.  I’m a thumbprint on the window of a skyscraper.  I’m a smudge of excrement on a tissue surging out to sea with a million tons of raw sewage.”  Ironically, his favourite wine was not allowed to be used in the movie, a Chateau Petrus Pomerol.  A Merlot.  With International Merlot Day on November 7, it is worth reflecting how good this grape can be.

The 2018 Coldstream Hills Merlot is from the Yarra Valley in Victoria.  It is a dark red coloured wine with a bright, lively edge.  The nose is of tobacco and herbs; sage and bay leaves providing the frills to the red fruits.  The palate is a perfect match to the nose with some cool elegance and slightly sandy tannins.  Tightly structured around plums and briary fruits, with chocolate through the middle, gives it volume that finishes with cedar notes.  This is very youthful and needs time, providing you with more than a smudge of excitement in a glass.