2019 Château de Mérande Arbin La Noire

Mérande's flagship wine from very old vines which throw little fruit. It is an unashamedly powerful expression of Mondeuse – where you can see its connection with syrah on full show.  Blackeberry & blue fruit here, it’s dense & potent but also distinctly mineral & fresh.  An essay in concentration with a very long life ahead of it. From soils of glacial moraine covered with calc-shists, with the whole bunch fermentation adding freshness. 

95 Points, Gary Walsh (The Wine Front) - "My goodness, this wine is like falling into a black hole of black fruit, slate, spice and more spice. It’s so intense and concentrated, it does show a fair bit of nutty coffeed oak (or so I think), but the weight of black fruit here is almost impossibly concentrated. New leather, liquorice, and bitter dark chocolate, dried herb and black olive. Some violet. Fine mineral acidity, which puts me in mind of Teroldego or Freisa, lavish crushed rock and a suede feel to tannin, kind of bloody and meaty too, and very purple tasting. It’s all ink and black fruit, with thick tannin on a finish of outstanding length. I can almost feel my hair growing as I taste it. Insane wine. And even as a lover of highly tannic wines, I would not touch this for at least a decade." Drink 2030-2040+