The colour is pale straw. On the nose pears, white peaches, orange peels and white flowers. In the mouth grapey and refreshing. The aftertaste is medium long.
This wine is made with 100% Merlot grapes vinified off the skins.
White Merlot del Ticino was born in 1986, when a local Cooperative, faced with chronic grapes’ oversupply, decided to produce a white wine. Other producers followed suit. Nowadays the share of Merlot grapes vinified in white in Ticino is more than 30% of the total production.
Merlot is the main grape of Canton Ticino, where it has been imported from France for experimental purposes at the beginning of the 20th century, during the post-phylloxera period.
Currently Merlot covers about 80% of the planted area in a Canton with some 3’600 grape growers and 200 or so winemakers. Approximately 1’000 hectares are devoted to viticulture.
White Merlot is not my kind of wine. Nevertheless, I find this exemplar made by Gialdi a pleasant Apero wine.
I bought this bottle at the winery for 16 CHF.
Country: Switzerland
Region: Ticino
Grapes: Merlot
Type: White
Vintage: 2020
Producer: Gialdi
Price range: Medium (15-30 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 3/5
2010 has been a very good year for Ticino wines. Back then I was just starting to get an appreciation of wine and was curious to see how the best products of my region would age. I therefore bought a few bottles of wines produced by three friends: Sassi Grossi made by Alfred De Martin (12 bottles), Rompidée made by Andrea and Giada Arnaboldi (12 bottles), and San Giorgio made by Mattia Bianda (6 bottles). 
Last week I organised a wine tasting focused on some of the best Merlot based wines of my region: Ticino.
Last month I hosted a wine tasting event at my home. Four dear friends joined me to taste blindly five Merlot based wines produced in our region. It has been a very pleasant and interesting experience. 
On the nose, the wood and the alcohol dominate the fruit. Some eucalyptus’ notes, but not much complexity. After a while more fruit shows up, but it soon fades away.