Merlot grape variety

The renowned Italian wine critic Veronelli had already rated the Colli Berici, alongside Bolgheri, as one of the finest growing regions for Bordeaux grape varieties. This rare Merlot is dedicated to its creator, Alfredo Lazzarini, whose vineyards Inama has only recently acquired, and it embodies the history of the Colli Berici. Dark ruby-garnet in colour, with violet highlights and a delicate tear. Spicy undertones of black cherries, ripe plums, forest floor, a hint of jasmine and a pleasant touch of fine wood. Juicy on the palate, with good complexity and a chocolatey texture, featuring round tannins and a subtle sweetness from the extracts on the finish. SUPERIORE.DE

Friuli is white wine country. We know that. What is easy to forget: Schiopetto has also been making red wines since 1968 – and with a consistency that excludes any chance. Rivarossa is the name of a cadastral parcel on the company's own vineyards, whose clayey, loamy soil is fundamentally different from the Ponca hills of the whites. Different soil, different logic, different wine. 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon – separate vinification of both varieties, fermentation in wooden barrels for ten to fifteen days at 25 degrees, followed by fourteen months of ageing in barriques and Liters oak barrels.

On a car journey to Bordeaux – francesca Moretti and her father Vittorio – the dream that drives Petra was born. Great red wines with a Mediterranean soul and Bordelese precision. Back in Suvereto, the family planted their first vines on the Tenuta San Lorenzo. The vineyard right next to the cantina – named after the gnarled oaks on the edge of the maquis – is Francesca's most personal terrain. Merlot is her favourite grape variety. 88% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc – a Bordelese choice for a Tuscan terroir. 26-year-old vines on clay-sandy, slightly calcareous soils, 80 quintals per hectare. Fermentation in the Guyot training system on 6,200 vines per hectare, then nine months in barriques, nine months in cement – a combination that gives the wine structure while retaining freshness. Aged in the bottle for at least six to seven months.

An outstanding red wine with origin and personality: "Vicorosso" combines 80% Merlot with 20% Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso - a cuvée that embodies international elegance and regional expression in equal measure. The grapes come from old, slow-growing vines on the typical Ponca soils between Prepotto and Buttrio. After selective hand-picking, the wine matured for around 15 months in French barriques before harmonising for a few months in the bottle. Dense ruby red in the glass with violet reflections. The rich bouquet of black cherry, blackberry and plum is finely underpinned by violets, liquorice, tobacco leaf and graphite. The palate combines juicy fruit, fine-grained tannins and lively acidity in great balance, supported by a hint of salty minerality on the finish. The wine has a precise, compact and stimulating effect at the same time - an (almost) modern Friulian red wine with depth. SUPERIORE.DE

Punggl is a word from the dialect of the South Tyrolean lowlands that refers to a small hill. But this inconspicuous name stands for one of the region's most renowned vineyards: at the foot of the Fennberg, south of Margreid, rises the eponymous hill with its precious alluvial soils of fine sand, silt and clay deposits. Here, where the Mediterranean climate of the warm valley floor meets the thermals of the Alps, the Merlot finds ideal conditions for a ripeness that combines vigour and finesse. From April to October, constant air currents characterise the microclimate of the site. The warm afternoon wind that rises from Lake Garda through the Adige Valley and the cool morning breeze from the north create an interplay that allows the grapes to ripen slowly and evenly. The vines, grafted onto low-growing rootstock and trained using the Guyot system, are tended with the utmost care.

Siebeneich is not a fantasy name. The small village to the west of Bolzano gives its name to the wine – and itself bears one of the oldest wine stories in South Tyrol. Archaeologists found vine knives from the late Iron Age here, which are considered the oldest evidence of prehistoric Weinwirtschaft in the region. Merlot on this soil: a young grape variety on ancient ground. Cellar master Rudi Kofler says that Merlot grows best in Terlan on the warm, south-facing clay slopes. This is exactly where Siebeneich is located – a terroir that gives this international variety the substance to tell the story of South Tyrol instead of imitating Bordeaux. Hand-picked, destemming, slow maceration in steel, malolactic fermentation – then 12 months of ageing: 70 per cent in large wooden barrels, 30 per cent in barriques, one third of which are new. Power with control.

The new name suffix reveals what is important: Praun – which means "brown" in the local dialect – refers to the dark brown, phenolically fully ripe grape seeds and the brownish-woody structure of the stems. A sign of optimum physiological ripeness, a sign of exceptional grape quality. In the sun-drenched Siebeneich near Terlan, at an altitude of around 250 metres, Merlot finds ideal conditions. The warm, fertile alluvial soils of the Adige with their quartz porphyry content and the dry, hot microclimate produce concentrated, storable wines. After fermentation in wooden barrels, the wine matures for around a year in French barriques and large oak barrels – a combination that combines structure with elegance.

From the highest corner of the Vigna Istine (the name 550 refers to the metres above sea level), surrounded by cool forests, this balanced Merlot is vinified in concrete before spending around 15 months in lightly toasted tonneaux. Due to the cool location, it is – unusually – harvested after the Sangiovese so that it has more time to mature on the vine. The result is a wine with a fine tannic structure and juicy, ripe blue fruit, with a hint of red fruit and some coffee notes leading to a long, graceful finish. Production is 2,600 bottles per vintage. SUPERIORE.DE

Mauritius – a name that evokes dreams of tropical islands, but here it embodies the ancient Latin name for the small village of Moritzing, where one of South Tyrol's most successful red wine cuvées is produced on warm alluvial soils. At an altitude of just 250 metres, the vineyards in Moritzing and Gries benefit from the Mediterranean microclimate, which offers both the autochthonous Lagrein and the international Merlot optimal ripening conditions. This symbiosis of two grape variety worlds – the alpine vigour of Lagrein with the Burgundian elegance of Merlot – creates a wine of exceptional complexity.

"Le Merle" is named after the Merlot-loving blackbirds that compete with the harvest workers during the grape harvest. Eleonora and Elena Charrère made a conscious decision to cultivate a variety of international origin, Merlot, which is very rare in the region, in order to challenge the terroir and create a wine of great consistency and richness.

These are the rare moments when a wine combines everything: origin, character and that depth that is difficult to explain. "Titut Ros" is just such a wine - a single-varietal Merlot that is only made in very small quantities and exclusively from the oldest vines on the steep plots of Ronc di Vico. The deep roots of the vines, anchored in the barren Ponca soil of the Colli Orientali, characterise a fruit of rare intensity and clarity. Thanks to stable weather conditions, the 2022 vintage offered perfect ripeness with impeccable health - the grapes were hand-picked, meticulously selected and vinified with a long maceration period. The wine then matured for 18 months in new and used French barriques before finding its inner balance in the bottle.

Smells intensely of redcurrants and black cherries, leather, spices and liquorice. Lush and flowing on the palate, all elements merge into a great, striking wine. Great potential! SUPERIORE.DE

Fresh, vibrant and full of energy, Geremia 2019 is highly entertaining and lively. Its flavours are remarkably intense, yet it also has a certain lightness that keeps it balanced and brilliant with every sip. Crushed stones, menthol, liquorice, sage and gravel envelop its core of blue and violet fruits, the tannins are well-built and it convinces not least with its beautiful length. Geremia always has something magical about it and its special personality makes it one of the most remarkable red wines from the Chianti Classico region for us every year. SUPERIORE.DE

Geremia founded the Ricasoli family in the 7th or 8th century – at a time when Chianti was not yet the name of a wine, but a battleground between rival noble families. His descendant, Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi, now runs the same estate, on the same land, in Gaiole in Chianti. And he named this wine after his ancestor. This is particularly intriguing given that the Geremia is not a Sangiovese. In 1997, Marco planted Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon across 2.5 hectares of his hillside – deliberately, out of curiosity, and with a clear question in mind: what does this terroir express in a different language? The calcareous-clay soils at altitudes of between 340 and 510 metres, the south-southeast exposure, the microclimate between Florence and Siena – everything that shapes Sangiovese is also available here to the Bordeaux varieties. Hand-harvested in baskets, fermented in temperature-controlled tanks, aged for 24 months in medium-toasted Allier barriques, bottled unfiltered, and aged in bottle for 18 months. Certified organic.

There are wines that you don't find every year. Raccaro's Merlot belongs to this rare species – produced only when the vintage allows it, and even then in homeopathic quantities. "Da sempre presente nel vigneto aziendale", as the family says: always in the vineyard, but never in the bottle as a matter of course. This Merlot is not a concession to international trends, but part of the history of these slopes on Monte Quarin, where the grape variety develops a depth on the fossilised marl layers of the Ponca that is reminiscent of the great Merlot interpretations of Friuli. The vineyard lies at an altitude of 90 metres, north-south orientation, 5,000 vines per hectare in the Guyot system. Old vines, low yields, late harvest – the prerequisites for concentration. The vinification follows a clear line: twelve days of maceration at a controlled 25 to 28 degrees to extract structure and depth without overtaxing the fruit. This is followed by 15 months in small French wooden barrels, where the wine gains complexity and learns to tame its youthful vigour.

Deep ruby red colour, lush notes of cherries, strawberries and sweet oak spice, vanilla and black pepper. The Sangiovese gives the blend great freshness and is in perfect balance with the silky and soft tannins of the Merlot. Overall rich, but always elegant and with great persistence. A complex, excellently structured red wine in absolute Super Tuscan quality and produced in a limited edition of just under 3,000 bottles. SUPERIORE.DE

A Merlot of impressive depth and fidelity to its origins: "Ros di Buri" comes from the single vineyard of the same name near Buttrio, whose old vines are deeply rooted in the typical Ponca soils of marl and sandstone. This vineyard is one of the winery's prime locations and produces a Merlot that is far more than just an international style wine. The grapes are rigorously selected, harvested by hand and vinified in small French barriques, where the wine matures for 18 months before spending further time in the bottle to reach perfection.

Since the 2018 vintage, a small amount of Merlot has been vinified separately at Rampolla, named after the mother Donna Liù. The unfiltered wine was matured for 12 months in terracotta amphorae and fermented to almost 0 g/l residual sugar. Very elegant, fresh nose of sour cherry, laurel and cassis. Fresh on the palate and without the sometimes exuberant opulence of some other Tuscan Merlots, with a precise cherry fruit and salty-minty component. A finely chiselled Merlot that is hard to beat in terms of freshness, clarity and personality. It bridges the gap wonderfully between the Chianti Classico and the two flagships of the house, Sammarco and d'Alceo. Needs a few more years in the bottle. SUPERIORE.DE