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93POINTS
17¼/20
CheckMate Artisanal Winery End Game Merlot 2017
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaEnd Game begins on two warm, south Okanagan benches on the valley's eastern side: the Osoyoos East Bench and the Black Sage Bench. Both are predominately made up of sandy soils sporting multiple expositions and elevations, producing a range of flavours and styles intensified by long days and warm, late-day sun. The fermentation is wild, and it's finished in the barrel where the wine remains in contact with its skins for 50+ days. Post skin contact, the wine is aged 21 months in French oak, mostly St. Martin and Deptos Bordeaux. In 2017 the aromas were vibrant, offering whiffs of sassafras and root beer mixed with savoury desert scrub and sagebrush running throughout the palate. The palate is slightly bigger in 2017, with denser, richer tannins that will take this wine further down the ageing road. It's a touch drier, yay, with less chocolate and more spice and complexity — more Euro less New World this year and closer to Next World Okanagan. There is no rush to open this wine. If you must drink it now, think lamb or roasted meats while it slowly opens up over the next five to seven years.Tasted: 06 December 2020Tasted by: Anthony GismondiPrices:| BC | $85.00 | 750ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $196.00 | 1500ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $439.00 | 750ml | winery direct, wine club members |
| BC | $989.00 | 6000ml | winery direct, wine club members |
Grape: MerlotCSPC: 752683UPC: 776545802316
