Chateau Nuzun Merlot Through the Years ( #MerlotMe )
It’s #Merlober! Earlier this month I participated in the #WinePW conversation about #Merlot which you can read about here. While my original intent was to have that as my sole #MerlotMe post this month, I felt so inspired by many of the pairings the group came up with so I decide to keep going with the theme!
One of the wines I featured in my original post was the 2013 Merlot from Chateau Nuzun. I realized, looking back at my notes, that I’ve had several Merlots from Chateau Nuzun over the last year but never wrote about any of them (other than the 2013). So that’s what I want to look at here, a reflection on Chateau Nuzun’s Merlots through the years.
Chateau Nuzun stands out in many ways for its viticulture and winemaking practices. The winery practices organic viticulture and earned a Ceres certification some time ago. I remember hearing about them and about them being organic when I first started getting into Turkish wine six-ish years ago. I think it was one of the first wineries here to fully commit to adopting organic farming and achieve certification. In the winery the wines do not get fined but are allowed to settle naturally in tanks after blending. Wines therefore are only bottled (with minimal added SO2) and released several years after the vintage date. The “newest” (red) wine I’ve seen on the market is the 2015 vintage. Very few wineries here cellar age their wine before release.
So the Merlot! I’m a bit biased, I pretty much love all the Chateau Nuzun reds-varietals and blends-but yeah. The Merlot is good. And because the wine is made with organic grapes and with minimal intervention in the winery you can really taste vintage variations.
Chateau Nuzun Merlot, 2011
Apparently I did not record the amount of time this aged in oak but knowing Chateau Nuzun’s practices it would have been a minimum of 12 months in a combination of French (majority) and American oak. Because they are not fined or filtered, Chateau Nuzun wines tend to appear a bit murky. The 2011 did look a little hazy but the that did not detract from the deep ruby color’s appeal.
Intense and rich aromas of plum, bramble fruit, and black olive fruit swirled around in the glass with Turkish coffee, Vietnamese cinnamon, bitter cocoa, and a hint of stable. On the palate the wine was dry with round, supple tannins, medium plus acidity and high alcohol (14% abv) for an overall medium plus body. Flavors were similarly intense and complex. One minute bright red berry fruit then prune flavors that moved into spicy cinnamon, savory herbs, and a long finish of coffee-caramel budino. 
Chateau Nuzun Merlot, 2012
The 2012 Merlot spent an impressive 30 months in oak before bottling. The resulting wine poured and inky garnet (again ever so slightly hazy due to the lack of fining/filtering).
Quality and complexity are the hallmarks of Chateau Nuzun’s wines, regardless of the varietal or blend. Here that complexity demonstrated itself in the layers of aroma in the bouquet with intense fig, blackberry, and dried blueberry fruits accompanied by spice, cedar, and leather.
Sipping revealed tart blackberry, leather, freshly grated cinnamon and clove spice. Rough velvet tannins clung to mouth despite a mouthwatering level of acidity. High alcohol at 14% abv but finding perfect balance with the fruit/tannins/acidity.
Chateau Nuzun Merlot, 2013
Chateau Nuzun’s 2013 Merlot aged 15 months in French and American oak and was both unfined and unfiltered.
A deep, opaque ruby on the our with a largely savory bouquet. Intense aromas of cedar, black pepper, cigar box, and rosemary along with dried black cherry and fig wrapped my senses in a kind of old-timey, gentleman’s club feeling. Or what I imagine one would smell like!
The tannins in this one really snuck up on me. It was only after swallowing that I noticed them clinging to the inside of my cheeks. High acidity helped balance the high alcohol (15% abv this vintage) and the subversive tannins while palate flavors faithfully represented the intense bouquet.
Chateau Nuzun Merlot, 2015
I visited Chateau Nuzun just this weekend in order to get the 2014 and 2015 Merlots to complete my post. When I was there I learned that there was no 2014. Late season hail decimated the Merlot vineyards. What grapes remained were used for a special blend that will be released soon. Therefore, on to the 2015!
The 2015 spent a total of 25 months in oak before being allowed to settle back in the tank and being bottled. 2015 represents the newest vintage of Chateau Nuzun wines on the market. Red wines are released four years after the vintage. Deep inky ruby on the pour with an intensely rich nose I couldn’t wait to dive into. Blackberry, blackcurrant, plum, and tomato followed by black currant leaf and violets then brown spices, licorice, and vanilla. On the palate plushy tannins wrapped around a structured core of acidity. High alcohol (15% abv) balanced well with the fruit. Palate flavors were again very rich with plums, brown spices, vanilla, and a hint of brown sugar. Coffee bean transitioning to cedar on the finish.
Not only is there no such thing as a bad wine from Chateau Nuzun, there’s not even a mediocre wine to be found here.
If you’ve been enjoying #MerlotMe month as much as I have, check out what other bloggers have been doing with Merlot!
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- Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Merlot: A Varietal That Plays Well with Others”
- Cindy at Grape Experiences shares “Sip Merlot with Vegetarian Favorites”
- Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen shares “Fall Vegan Menu Paired with 2016 Napa Merlots”
- David at Cooking Chat shares “Merlot Food Pairing: Tips and Favorites”
- Gwendolyn at Wine Predator shares “Meatloaf and #MerlotMe with Sonoma’s Selby and Columbia Valley’s L’Ecole No. 41”
- Jane at Always Ravenous shares “Merlot Pairing: Baked Pasta with Sausage Ragù”
- Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “A Tale of Two Merlots at the Grill”
- Jill at L’Occasion shares “What’s So Special About Merlot?”
- Jennifer at Vino Travels shares “Fall is Here! Warm up with a Merlot and Pot Roast Pairing”
- Lauren at The Swirling Dervish shares “October is #MerlotMe Month: Here’s What I’ve Been Sipping”
- Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “Kicking off #MerlotMe in the Pacific time zone”
- Liz at What’s in that Bottle? shares “Make Room for Merlot!”
- Lori at Exploring the Wine Glass shares “Leaves on the Ground and #MerlotMe in my Glass”
- Lynn at Savor the Harvest shares “Next Gen Merlot From Where It All Started”
- Martin at Enofylz shares “A Meatless #MerlotMe Redux”
- Nicole at Somms Table shares “5 #MerlotMe Nights”
- Payal at Keep the Peas shares “Kicking Off Autumn With #Merlotme”
- Pinny at Chinese Wine & Food Pairings shares “#MerlotMe with Markham and L’Ecole No. 41 Merlots and Army Ramen”
- Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles shares “Merlot from elegant to badass. Time to #Merlotme.”
- Rupal at Syrah Queen shares “#MerlotMe – Best Food Pairings For Merlot”
- Susannah at Avvinare shares “Brazilian Merlot Is Always Welcome At My Table”
- Terri at Our Good Life shares “Merlot Me with Noodless Lasagne”
- Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Woohoooooooo….It is #MerlotMe month”