Marco Felluga Merlot 2011

Marco Felluga 2011 Varneri Merlot, Collio DOC | 13.5% | 100% Merlot –a variety grown in Friuli for nearly 150 years, this is exceptional for its penetrating fragrance and dynamic charm –seldom seen but from the best Merlots. Perhaps it’s the layered hills of Collio, their free draining loam, or the breezes volleyed between the Alps and the Adriatic but there is a tension that defines this wine flexing between meaty blackberries and a tart and tannic plum skin texture. A currant leaf aroma soars above all these grounded earthen notes and lifts them beyond their station in life teasing out star anise and a sweet brown spice tempered by a deep green line that underscores the importance of fruit rather than proffering gratuitous ripe fruit in that all too familiar surfeit for surfeit’s sake. No. This is a Merlot of the highest order –confident in both its feminine grace and masculine musculature. With such complexity it can take and daresay might have needed 12 months in large and small oak casks. Unique to Collio this is a singular beauty that belies the Merlot of the international variety.
Wine review by Nicholas Livingston, February 13, 2015 (Leaf)

Food Pairings

Most any meat; really, lamb, beef, pork, chicken, duck. Has an affinity for tomatoes and mushrooms.