This red begins with dark fruits like damson plum mixed with a touch of spice, sandalwood, graphite, wet stone, smoke and earth. It is between medium and full bodied with ripe plum, black cherry, black currant and blackberry fruit that is rich and nicely integrated with rounded tannins. Savory earth and graphite flavors add complexity.

WINE INFORMATION

Winemaker Jean-Marc Sauboua sourced the Merlot grapes from Toinon, a sustainably farmed vineyard laced with fossils.  The Toinon vineyard lies just across the Dordogne River from Saint-Emilion and some of Bordeaux’s most famous Merlot appellations. Toinon boasts pure calcaire (limestone) soils which produce Merlot grapes of excellent intensity and freshness. The fossil-laden soils create complex wines which exhibit fruit interwoven with mineral and earth flavors.  Not only was this wine made with eco-friendly methods and viticulture, it also contains no added sulfites.  Normally, Bordeaux wines are bottled in straight-sided bottles, but Jean-Marc opted for a Burgundy shaped bottle with slanted, curvy sides.  The bottle’s label depicts a fossil to represent the soils upon which the grapes were grown.

Wine experts deemed the 2020 harvest to be excellent, and they report that wines created from 2020 grapes reflect that excellence.  While the world watched the pandemic develop, wine grapes in Bordeaux over the summer of 2020 relished in the hot, dry summer after a perfect peppering of spring rains. During the harvest, vineyard managers had to be vigilant about sanitization and maintaining social distancing.

Charcuterie, Hearty stew, Mushrooms, Red Meat, Roasted Root Vegetables, Wild Game