This is a pure merlot with violets, blueberries and hints of minerals and black truffles. Black olives, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight and polished with a reserved and agile mouth feel. Linear and racy. Superb quality for this first released vintage. An exceptional example of the great heights to which the noble Merlot grape can attain on good sites in temperate climates. While maintaining a sense of its Tuscan origins, it shows Bertinga's winemaking style: cool, reserved, with a stony mineral quality supporting the moderate generosity of fruit, and lifting freshness of acidity and grounding of firm, fine tannin that will allow this to improve over the next few years and on.