Rust Wine Co.

My beloved variety, the blackbird, le merlot... I am a firm believer that Merlot is a happy homebody in the Okanagan, if only treated to careful farming, attentive winemaking, and a willingness to let it interpret itself as it wants to be rather than pigeonholing it. OK Falls is not Bordeaux, and it shouldn’t try to be. This guy weighs in at a hefty 14.2%, so not as high as you’d expect from pre-Sideways California or South America, but closer to its neighbours in Washington. And while Pomerol and St Emilion find their way to this booze level in warm vintages all the time these days, the 3.6ph and 4.7ta spell out a broad, unabashedly new world drink of wine, and that 14 months in Bordeaux barriques helps that along. The new oak component sits happy as a clam in there. It is my firm belief that there is not a variety in the world that likes French oak barriques as much as Merlot. They co-evolved. Harvested gradually between Sept and Oct, the high elevation and sandy glacial loams provide a uniquely BC expression.