The goal of any winemaker or at least  what I think a winemaker tries to do with grapes brought in from the vineyard is a simple one;  Capture the essence of the vintage in the bottle.  When you taste a wine you want to be supplanted back in time to that vintage when you are about to harvest grapes and make wine from them.

Sure, other elements come into play thanks to the aging of the wine, but really, if I were a winemaker, I would want to bring people back to that vintage with as little outside influence as possible.  When I say outside influence, I am talking about oak influence.

Medolla Vineyards 2007 Merlot ($22) captures the 2007 vintage in the purist of forms.  In my opinion this is one of the best bottles from the 2007 from the North Fork especially for this price.  I remember visiting and hanging out at harvest time and alot of Merlot grapes that were just picked tasted just like this.

The nose brings ripe notes of plum, cherry, raspberry and blackberry.  Juicy fruit with hints of smoke, vanilla, clove, dried herb and earth mushroom like notes.

The palate brings more plum, blackberry, cherry, grilled fig and espresso.  Dried savory herbs, cocoa and sweet vanilla round out the palate.

Great acidity with velvety tannins make this a wine that goes perfectly with food.  The wine finishes up with a lengthy finish of cherry and clove.

2007 was one of the best vintages of Long Island and this represents it well.  It take me back to 2007 as if I just picked a few Merlot grapes off the vine.  John Medolla with the help of Eric Fry have made one fine Merlot that captures the vintage well.  At the price of $22, this is bargain and has tremendous value.

Sláinte!