week 4 - beliveau estate merlot estate reserve

Name: Beliveau Estate Merlot Estate Reserve

Variety of Grapes: Merlot

Region/Country Of Origin: VA - Roanoke - North Fork of Roanoke, United States

Price: $24.95

Vintage Year: 2019

Shop: https://vintagecellar.com/shop?product-id=639b9922416df174ca57e6c8&option-id=593f14488bbeda91c6c4133ee1a7d5d54857f4d0a49d5bc0a9514294159add88

Shop Review: (From their free weekly wine tastings) One year in French oak gives this Merlot a creamy nose with traces of soft pepper. With traditional flavors of light red fruit, this wine is made for roast duck or lean cuts of beef.

Wine Folly's Notes: Merlot is loved for it’s boisterous black cherry flavors, supple tannins, and smoky or chocolaty finish. It’s often found in a Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Franc. Merlot tastes great alongside roasted foods like pork shoulder, roasted mushrooms, or braised short ribs. Try complementing the fruit notes with chimichurri sauce!

• Cherry
  
• Plum 
• Chocolate
• Dried Herbs
• Vanilla
  

My Personal Review: Trying this wine was surely an experience. The instant I smelt this wine after swirling it in my glass, I could smell the spiciness and cherry, and this was the first time I was truly confident with the spicy note I sensed. I tasted red berries, herbs and the spice notes. It was also mildly vegetative. It was dry without being overwhelmingly so, medium body and very well balanced. 

 

The reason I loved this wine was because the notes remind me of a childhood favorite dessert my parents got me every year for Christmas - a 'Kerala Style Fruitcake' and it tasted like a drier, more tannic wine version of this. I really would love the chance to bake this sweet in the future (and perhaps make it just a tad more sweeter than I remember to complement the Merlot just right), and even maybe try soaking all the fruit in this wine along side a heavier liquor too! I would drink this wine again in the future solely for the nostalgia, but it was a great wine regardless!