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91POINTS
16¾/20
CheckMate Artisanal Winery Black Rook Merlot 2021
Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaBlack Rook is situated on the Black Sage Bench, an unclassified South Okanagan subregion. The grapes are grown just above Black Sage Road, where the Red Barn and Phantom Creek wineries sit on a site that pushes up tight against the Okanagan Highlands between 317 and 408m. It’s a single vineyard sitting primarily on a poor, pure sand site with a southwest exposure that endures warm evenings. The yields are naturally low, and the fruit is concentrated, quite the opposite of what Checkmate has on the Golden Mile Bench, yet somehow, it reveals a fair amount of finesse even in its youth. The ’21 opens with floral black cherry that spills onto the palate and mixes into licorice, light chocolate, resin, blueberry, and cassis with dense, supple, chalky tannins. There are some dried desert scrub and a fair bit of oak at this point. The plan is to step back off the new French oak barriques and move to larger oak vessels to do the aging (currently at 20 months). As for the finesse mentioned, it works its way in at the end, adding class to this wine. Cellarworthy through 2028.Tasted: 21 September 2024Tasted by: Anthony GismondiPrices:| BC | $100.00 | 750ml | winery direct, select private wine shops |
| BC | $200.00 | 1500ml | winery online/direct |
| BC | $500.00 | 3000ml | winery direct/online |
| BC | $6000.00 | 750ml | winery direct/online |
Grape: MerlotCSPC: 362684UPC: 776545803146
