Ratings

Fortant Merlot

Winery: Fortant (Les Vins Skalli)

Year: 2003

Type: Red

Country: France (Sete)

Grape Variety: Merlot

Note:

Alcohol: 13.5%

Mevushal: Yes

Date Reviewed: 7/11/06

Color: 2.5 (of 3)

Note: A nice meaty medium garnet color with strong legs.

Aroma: 6 (of 7)

Note: Rich and deep aromas of wild cherry and balsamic with hints of black pepper. Unusual but interesting...

Taste: 8 (of 10)

Note: Strong flavors of black pepper, wild cherries and blackberries. There's a background flavor of tea and balsamic vinegar, as well. It's dry with medium to light tannins and barely any wood flavor at all. It's a Merlot that leans more toward the spicy and less toward the fruity. It's a shift in emphasis that requires some subtlety to really pull off and it almost makes it. It's good, but not great.

Total: 16.5 (of 20)

Food: I had this Fortant with Sloppy Joe's. Yes, Sloppy Joe's! And it was terrific! The strong black pepper flavor really complimented the spicyness of the meal. It's funny how unlikely matches can sometimes work so well. If I'd tried this Merlot with spaghetti or a grilled steak, I don't think it would have worked so well. And did I really buy this for $8.99? At that price, it's a steal!

Compare to :

Binyamina Special Reserve Merlot

Barkan Reserve Merlot

Segal's Galilee Heights Merlot Special Reserve

Gamla Merlot

Yarden Merlot Ortal Vineyard

Noah Merlot

What do you think of this wine? :

Connection Error: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)