Holy Merlot

2007 Charly Thevenet Régnié Grain & Granite
Bright and fresh and natural seeming. Has that sort of spring field bug spray quality that I find more pillowy natural wines to have. There seems to be a rocky underside, but maybe that’s just the power of suggestion. I quite liked the mix of floral and herby flavors with the blue fruits and stoniness. I think this has the structure to improve for a little bit and hold well for 5 years of so, but this is the first of Charly’s wines I’ve had, so that’s just a guess. Thanks to David Lillie for recommending this and making internet shopping safe.

1998 Stanislao Radikon Collio Merlot
This started out soft and drinking easily. As I said to Ken, it is delicious but not impressive. The aromatic profile became broader and encompassed plumy fruit, earth and animal notes and as it opened they all seemed to have a chalky, mineral underpinning. This was a really fascinating wine which evolved and moved around. It might seem strange, but it reminded me a lot of Chave Hermitage from the old days. Great with food. A really remarkable bottle of wine which is pretty expensive, but worth trying at least once. No need to age it any longer (Stanislao took care of that for you), but do give it some air.