Continuing #MerlotMe Celebrations with Saranta’s Chateau Murou
This year for October, the month of #MerlotMe, I did not have a lot of new wines to try. For the #WinePW event I paired Akın Gürbüz’s new Winemaker Series Merlot with merguez sausages. Uçmakdere’s Roze Merlot went with baked rosemary honey chicken, while two Merlots from Arda went with an amazing burrata eggplant dish.
For my final Merlot of the month, I opened Saranta’s Chateau Murou Merlot and paired it with a plateful of nibbles.
Saranta
Saranta is located in Turkey’s Thrace, just a stone’s throw from several other wineries on the Trakya Bağ Rotası (Thracian Wine Route). The majority of the winery’s vineyards spread out around the winery and hotel in Kırklareli. Here they grow a combination of native and international varieties including Öküzgözü, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Syrah.
Saranta’s operations are overseen by viticulture specialist and winemaker Gülçin Akçay. Akçay, a talented force of nature, has been working in the fields since 2000 after graduating from the Trakya University’s Agriculture Faculty. She cut her teeth in the Thracian vineyards of Barbare, Chamlija, and Arda before transitioning into the winery and coming to Saranta.
Saranta Chateau Murou Merlot, 2016
I remember the very first time I tried this. At a tasting event a handful of years ago, I was still pretty anti-Merlot. But Saranta was, at the time, still a new winery and I hadn’t had their wines so, I had to try them all. Obviously! Love at first sip. This was a Merlot with attitude. Some of that attitude (which I recall taking the form of gunpowder and graphite) has smoothed out in the ensuing years. But the Chateau Murou Merlot stands up nonetheless.
The 2016 vintage (which is the one one sale now) aged for nine months in French oak and finished with a whopping 15% abv. Happily, I had the presence of mind to decant this bad boy so, by the time I stuck my nose in the glass of deeply ruby liquid, I got a pretty complete picture of the wine’s depths. Black cherry and blackberry aromas peeled away to reveal layers of brown spice (chiefly clove and cardamom) and fresh bursts of eucalyptus and pine. Silky, finely grained tannins present at the front carried flavors of black cherry and dried fig then receded to make way for mouthwatering acidity. Super spicy and rich with a medium plus body just shy of hitting the powerhouse stratosphere. A nice lingering finish but one I wish had lingered a bit longer.
My pairings for this were pretty random and mostly consisted of things I wanted to make (bacon humus, chorizo-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates), had lying around (truffled Manchego and garlic Gouda), things I needed to use (eggs which I turned into truffled deviled eggs), and a small attempt to be healthy (a harvest salad with dried figs, pears, pecans, parmesan, and fig balsamic dressing). The wine’s interaction was as random as the bites I put out.
On the good side…this wine with chorizo-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates? So. Much. Yes. Is there anything really that wouldn’t go with this?! It went also quite well with the garlic Gouda.
The bacon humus and truffled Manchego weren’t bad while the truffled deviled eggs overwhelmed the wine and the salad was a little too balsamicy and soured it.
All in all though, a more successful #MerlotMe month than not. Looking forward to next year!