CheckMate Artisanal Winery 2014 Black Rook Merlot

CheckMate Artisanal Winery 2014 Black Rook Merlot

Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

$85

Made in a ripe and rewarding style, The Black Rook Merlot shows the rich, dark fruit character that comes from the Black Sage Bench region. There’s an impressive core of fruit that suggests the warmth of the site and calibre of the vintage, with impressive intensity and more rustic tannins than the more harmonious Opening Gambit Merlot. Give it a long decant if opening soon or cellar for two to five years to experience the full potential of this expressive Okanagan red. (91/100)