Vino de Eyzaguirre Merlot 2019
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Wong
Wilfred
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Solid dark red. Aromatic profile features plums, blueberries and subtle notes of black pepper. On the palate, smooth blackcurrant with a well-balanced finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Vino de Eyzaguirre Merlot drinks smooth and easy. TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits aromas and flavors of dried earth and black fruit. Enjoy it rose game birds. (Tasted: May 17, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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In the mid-seventeenth century, the Eyzaguirre family left their home in Vizcaya, Spain, and traveled to Chile to seek their fortune. They prospered and became distinguished citizens of their new country. In 1768 Domingo Eyzaguirre was appointed mayor of the capital city of Santiago. His son, Domingo Eyzaguirre II, planted some of the first vines from French rootstock in that region and founded the Vino de Eyzaguirre near a village built by monks from a nearby Franciscan monastery.
At first the wine was “bottled” in sturdy, 15-liter earthenware chuicos, which survived the bumpy trip by horse-drawn cart from the village to the monastery. When the winery switched to much smaller glass bottles, however, breakage became a problem. To protect their precious cargo, the monks took to wrapping the bottles in burlap sacks. The idea caught on with the winery and became a tradition that has endured to this day.
With generous fruit and supple tannins, Merlot is made in a range of styles from everyday-drinking to world-renowned and age-worthy. Merlot is the dominant variety in the wines from Bordeaux’s Right Bank regions of St. Emilion and Pomerol, where it is often blended with Cabernet Franc to spectacular result. Merlot also frequently shines on its own, particularly in California’s Napa Valley. Somm Secret—As much as Miles derided the variety in the 2004 film, Sideways, his prized 1961 Château Cheval Blanc is actually a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.
Well-regarded for intense and exceptionally high quality red wines, the Colchagua Valley is situated in the southern part of Chile’s Rapel Valley, with many of the best vineyards lying in the foothills of the Coastal Range.
Heavy French investment and cutting-edge technology in both the vineyard and the winery has been a boon to the local viticultural industry, which already laid claim to ancient vines and a textbook Mediterranean climate.
The warm, dry growing season in the Colchagua Valley favors robust reds made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Malbec and Syrah—in fact, some of Chile’s very best are made here. A small amount of good white wine is produced from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.