WineAlign - Awards - 2018 NWAC Merlot

Results of the 2018 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Merlot

Intro by Sara d’Amato

Perhaps it is even harder to be merlot then a red-headed orphan. Merlot has had a hard-knock life even before the ubiquitous anti-merlot diatribe of Miles Raymond from the film “Sideways”. In its most respected home of Bordeaux, merlot was actually banned from being planted between 1970 and 1975 due to fear of its weakness to cold and resistance to mold. For much of merlot’s life in Chile, it was co-mingled and picked with unripe carmenère until DNA profiling in 1998 definitively distinguished the grapes as distinct. Despite falling out of fashion on occasion, merlot has always had enough popularity to get it through the toughest of times.

Almost every wine producing region in the world warm enough to ripen merlot, makes merlot, which means there is stiff competition. There is a traditional, pedantic distinction often made between “classic” and “international” styles of merlot. The “classic” styles are those which tend to be less ripe, more rigidly tannic, and ageworthy, akin to those produced in merlot’s classic home of Bordeaux’s right bank. What is known as an “international style” is a merlot that is riper, more fleshy, charming and easier to enjoy in its youth. Although those may be the two extremities of merlot, the “classic” style is no longer ubiquitous within Bordeaux and the “international style” is no longer a generalization of what can be found in the “new world”. The merlots of this competition emphatically showed that there was diversity in our homegrown Canadian wines.

The number of gold medals, this year, more than doubled from last year despite scarcely more entries. The medalled wines were more evenly distributed between Ontario and B.C. in this category. Although many of the top scoring wines offered great intensity and fleshiness, there was much that distinguished them. Those variances tended to be more winemaking in nature as opposed to clear regional distinctiveness. Judges appreciated oak treatment that was well matched to the weight and intensity of the wine. There were several examples of authentic, expressively aromatic wines that were wildly seductive. Other high-ranking wines offered either a richly layered tannic profile combined with vibrant, streamlined acidity. Despite issues with winter hardiness in merlot, the grape seems to show better quality and more consistency nationwide than ever before. Due to an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the grape grown in our own varied terroir, there is a great deal of hope for merlot as demonstrated by these results.

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Burrowing Owl 2014 Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Bordertown 2015 Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Giant Head 2015 Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Stag’s Hollow 2015 Renaissance Merlot Stag’s Hollow Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Tawse 2013 Merlot David’s Block, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Trius 2014 Showcase RHS Merlot Clark Farm Vineyard, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Two Sisters 2013 Merlot, Niagara River, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Bench 1775 2014 Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
C.C. Jentsch 2015 Small Lot Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
CedarCreek 2014 Platinum Desert Ridge Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Culmina 2014 Merlot, Golden Mile Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Inniskillin Niagara 2016 Montague Vineyard Merlot , Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Kacaba 2016 Reserve Merlot, Niagara Escarpment, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Peller Estates Niagara 2014 Andrew Peller Signature Series Merlot, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

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