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94POINTS
17½/20
CheckMate Artisanal Winery Opening Gambit Merlot 2014
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaOpening Gambit mixes 90 percent merlot with 10 percent petit verdot, giving this merlot volume and aromatics that suggest it could be unique, and is undoubtedly now one of my favourite Checkmate labels. The warm Osoyoos East Bench site that gets a lot of late-day sun sits up against the US border at 1083 to 1437 feet. Very little has changed since its release, with a robust hedonistic style redolent in iodine, black cherries, and blackcurrants that pull you into the glass. Dense, long, and supple, it is only just beginning to evolve. It was native fermented with 52 days on skins before the juice was run directly from the tank into the barrel. This wine takes me to Bolgheri with its rich, savoury, sagebrush mocha, which says something about the South Okanagan. Youthful and evolving slowly, this is one to watch. This wine was tasted on February 4 as part of a four-year vertical featuring the 2013-2014-2015 and 2016 Opening Gambit.Tasted: 04 February 2020Tasted by: Prices:| BC | $85.00 | 750ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $196.00 | 1500ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $439.00 | 3000ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $989.00 | 6000ml | winery direct, wine club members |
Grape: MerlotCSPC: 408161UPC: 776545800268
