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If you struggle to find Merlot exciting, then Luca Bein is the man you need to meet. As the original chairman of the South African Merlot Technical Forum, and a current Top Ten Merlot producer, the man is comprehensively committed to the game. Bein Wine produces SIX wines. All of them 100% merlot. He produces the obvious choices; a reserve merlot, a main range merlot, a merlot rosé, and even Merlot MCC, but then he has also gone a step further to produce a “Little Merlot” – expressed with rare intricacy and aromatic expression, balanced on the other end of the spectrum with a Merlot Forte – which is essentially an amarone-style merlot as you might find in Veneto.

And even if, like the ignorant Miles Raymond, you aren’t “drinking any fucken Merlot”, the sheer depth of Bein’s range and his knowledge of the cultivar should be enough to make everyone bar the most hard-headed bigot just a little curious about whether or not they’d been too hasty in their dismissal of the cultivar.

Now, if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription, then your curiosity will remain unsated for a little while longer, and you’ll have to hunt this wine down at a later time. But until then, here are my tasting notes and some technical specs:

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👃🏼 Rose petals, soapy lavender, red cherry, hint of asparagus, fresh leather, some slightly richer blackcurrant elements, and subtle nutmeg

👄 Palate is lithe fresh, and red fruit centred. There is some soft red plum fruit, alongside slightly juicier red cherry acidity, and super silky light tannins. The combo of the juicy acidity, the well-defined fruit, and the rather light-footed tannins makes this a nigh-on pinot noir esque expression of the grape.

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Wine of origin Stellenbosch. 100% Merlot. 13.5% Alc. Harvested from the moderately vigorous portions of the vineyard that produce slightly lower concentration fruit. But the wine has no shortage of aromatic oomph. Matured in 3rd and 4th fill barrels.