Merryvale Profile 1993 Wine Review
The 1993 Merryvale Profile that we had last night was surprisingly good. The wine had not been well reviewed originally, and a subsequent tasting of it in 2003 by Wine Spectator said that it was past it’s prime and metallic. My feelings were a little different.
When first opened, the wine had the classic “old wine” smell. Not distasteful in any way, but definitely showing age. However, the first small taste showed dark fruit, some leather and a rich, almost chewy texture. We did not decant the wine, and let it sit in the glass for about five minutes. The second taste had less fruit, and almost a metallic “penny like” hint to it. You could pick up green herbs in the wine – almost grass like. It wasn’t bad, but we thought that maybe it past it’s prime. There was no tannin at all in the wine. (I had not read the WS review until today, so I can see what they were thinking).
However, by the second glass, after the wine had been open for about 20 minutes in the bottle – it was back to being a complex blend. There was good, soft fruit – you could taste plum, currant and something else that I can’t describe. The bouquet of the wine was that of a more traditional blend, and none of the original “old wine” smell. There were still no tannins, and the finish was short, but overall the wine was very nice. WS had scored it with an 82 when it was released. That’s probably accurate. However, the bottle we opened in 2010 was definitely not past its prime. It was delicate and graceful, and a pleasure to drink. We enjoyed it during the entire dinner.
Now, if the wait staff could have avoided pouring all of the sediment into my last glass – that would have been appreciated!
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