The Cellar: ‘Old World’ Merlot
Friday, May 13, 2016
Traditionally, the phrase ‘New World’ referred to the time in history when a wine nation became established and its wine readily available. What we today consider the ‘New World’ includes the Americas, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and others, all of which has come to maturity (commercially) within the past 70 years. These regions are compared to the ‘Old World’ regions of Europe, which includes Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France where they have been growing grapes and making wine commercially for more than one thousand years.
In recent years the phrases ‘New World’ and ‘Old World’ have taken on an additional meaning. They now refer to geography as well as the style in which a certain wine is made. A wine from California (a New World wine) can now have ‘Old World sensibilities’ while a Portuguese (Old World) wine can be made in a ‘New World’ style. I know it can be very confusing.
Generally speaking Old World wines have less ripe fruit – primarily because of cooler climates and earlier harvests. This results in wines that are more savory with earthier tones and wines that have more pronounced acid, minerality and/or tannins. New World wines on the other hand are often bigger in body, more fruit-forward, less astringent with more obvious oak. While most Old World winemakers see oak barrels as a vessel in which to make or age a wine, New World winemakers (generally speaking) use oak as flavoring in addition to the before-mentioned. While explaining the differences might be difficult tasting them are not.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
This week’s examples are both Merlots; a variety whose New World expression (especially Californian) has been getting a lot of flack in recent years primarily for being too soft, too ripe – basically boring and without structure. If you are among the ones that have written Merlot off I strongly urge you to look for an Old World example – like this week’s two featured examples that are both under $20.
The first place I would have you look is Merlot’s homeland – Bordeaux and particularly for wines labeled ‘Cotes-de-Bordeaux’, which are often wines of high quality and great value. The 2009 ‘Cuvee Compostelle’ from Chateau Cote Montpezat is a great example of what Merlot based Bordeaux bring to the table. This is a regional Merlot blended with its traditional partners (20%) Cabernet Franc and (10%) Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is medium-bodied with plenty of dark fruit. But it also has hints of slightly tart red fruit, herbs and spices with chewy tannins on the finish.
The other example is from one of Italy’s most popular wine region right now – Umbria. One of the region’s largest family owned and operated producers Falesco recently released a series of varietal wines called ‘Tellus’ aimed for the American market. Among the wines released is a really delicious Merlot. Compared to the Bordeaux the 2013 Tellus Merlot comes across lighter, fresher, with more pronounced acidity. While there is plenty of fruit to go around there is also secondary flavors of herbs and truffle. The finish is long with mouth-puckering tannins.
Cheers,
Steffen Rasch is a Certified Sommelier and Specialist of Wine. Follow him on Twitter at @SteffenRasch or learn about wine in person by signing up for one of his tastings at the Providence Wine Academy.
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