Gioiello Merlot 2021
- 92
- $30
- Drink by: 2025-2031
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Merlot from the Upper Goulburn, which already has the benefit of time in the cellar before release, the grapes are hand harvested, destemmed and crushed in open-top fermenters. After pressing, the wine spends a year and a half maturing in French oak barriques. The colour here is red/maroon. This version of Merlot is slightly more rustic than some, which always provokes debate and division. Some love the style, others less so, but if you enjoy that touch of rusticity, get on board. There are notes of plum pudding, leather, chocolate, tobacco leaves, animal skins, undergrowth and black fruits. The palate is very sleek, well balanced and with impressive length. A well structured wine with fresh acidity, this is a fine Merlot. Enjoy over the next half dozen years.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
