Last week I organised a wine tasting focused on some of the best Merlot based wines of my region: Ticino.
For this tasting we had seven wines lined up, which we tasted blind:
- Merlot Riserva Tenimento dell’Ör 2017, produced by Agriloro. Bought at the winery for 45 CHF.
- Culdrée 2017, produced by Trapletti. Bought at Manor for 54 CHF.
- Quattromani 2017, produced jointly by Delea, Brivio, Gialdi and Tamborini, with grapes from four different areas. Bought at Manor for 56 CHF.
- Platinum 2013, produced by Brivio. Bought at Manor for 90 CHF.
- Trentasei 2013, produced by Gialdi. Bought at Manor for 94 CHF.
- Trentasei 2017, produced by Gialdi. Not yet on the market.
- Vinattieri 2013 produced by Zanini Vinattieri. Bought at Manor for a whopping 150 CHF.
Platinum 2013 and Trentasei 2013 made it first place even. Third place went to Trentasei 2017. All three wines are made by the same person: Alfred De Martin, one of the best winemakers of Ticino.
The wildly overpriced Vinattieri 2013 made fourth place, followed by Quattromani 2017, Merlot Riserva Tenimento dell’Ör 2017 and Culdrée 2017.
The consensus among the five participants to the tasting on the first two wines was almost unanimous, while some people preferred Vinattieri 2013 to Trentasei 2017.
For fairness, it needs to be mentioned that the bottle of Merlot Riserva Tenimento dell’Ör 2017 was most likely flawed.
After the formal wine tasting, we enjoyed the wines with some delicious Chinese food that we got home-delivered from the restaurant Orient Express in Lugano. The dishes paired surprisingly well with the wines.
Country: Switzerland
Region: Ticino
Grapes: Merlot
Type: Red
Vintage: 2013, 2017
Producer: Agriloro, Brivio, Delea, Gialdi, Tamborini, Trapletti, Zanini Vinattieri
Price range: Extra (50-100 US$), Luxury (>100 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 3/5