2018 Saltbird Cellars Merlot

Tasting Notes:
The 100% North Fork Merlot is the antithesis to those mass-produced wines of the early aughts — ripe berry bramble coupled with the smooth and velvet tannins of a bar of dark chocolate. 

Process:
This block of Merlot, grown by the Peconic Bay in Southold, typically provides the base for the "Harbinger" Red Blend. Nonetheless, the 2018 vintage, proving to be cooler, wetter, and more frustrating than years prior, brought forth a challenge to our winemaker. Merlot, however, flourished, so the choice for winemaker Robin Epperson-McCarthy was an obvious one: listen to the vines and produce a single varietal vintage. Her process included whole-berry carbonic maceration, and extended skin contact extraction, followed by 19 months of neutral and second-year oak barrel aging. The result? A mouth-watering, brambly Merlot with fat and silky tannins.

Varietals: 100% Merlot

Label Artist: Nadira Vlaun, nadiravlaun.com