Mazza Chautauqua Cellars, Merlot 2019 – Long Island

The wine has a pale ruby color, with slight garnet highlights. The nose is airy, elegant, it offers concentration and a certain complexity, but requires aeration to open up. It then expresses spicy and toasted notes (nutmeg, ground cumin, crushed coriander and vanilla seeds, as well as toasted hazelnut, cocoa and chocolate almond). We also find juicy and gourmand fruits (morello cherry, crushed blackcurrant, crushed raspberry, wild strawberry, ripe red cherry), as well as dried cherry and dried blackcurrant, complemented by a herbaceous and floral hint (dried bergamot tea, dried mint, dried cornflower). The palate offers tension, a good bitterness of dried cranberries on the attack, completed by a smoky-bitter hint of bergamot. Then, the wine expresses a delicate spicy and toasted touch (cumin, nutmeg, white pepper, a touch of licorice, dark chocolate, toasted hazelnut), as well as a juicy and tangy fruity material (red cherry, blackcurrant, morello cherry, raspberry, a hint of black plum), black tea, dried blackcurrant leaf, as well as dried blueberry. The tannins are sapid, powdery and polished. Beautiful salivating acidity, a pleasant bitter-chocolate side on a fairly long persistence.