2021 Merlot
New Release!
When describing our Merlot, like all wines, it starts in the vineyard. The Similkameen’s climate and soil profiles are so ideal for Merlot vines that the resulting fruit expresses a purity and freshness that has critics and enthusiast all sorts of shook up! Many of our Merlot blocks are 16 years old, some are own rooted and consist of three different clones. All Merlot blocks are planted on varying aspects and slopes, but all are rooted in our infamous ‘stemwinder’ soil. All these unique blocks are tended to separately, hand harvested at their individual times and cellared in small lots. Merlot is an important part of our wine program so this strategy allows us to better understand these separate blocks and their resulting wines. This Merlot is assembled after 12 months of barrel aging by carefully selecting complimenting lots and then aged another 6 months as a blend. The combined barrel program is represented by 92% French and 8% American oak.
Stemwinder soil is extremely rocky, the average stone looks volcanic and is about the size of a baseball-they are dark, porous and jagged- there’s also a lot of shale in Stemwinder soil. Our Merlot captures the essence of this distinct terroir and expresses the Similkameen Valley beautifully!
