Chateau Mercian ‘Mariko’ Merlot 2018 (12 bottles case)

Garnet with the nuance of bluish tint. It blends well with the aroma of black berries, such as cassis and blackberries. Tobacco, chocolate, coffee from the oak barrels, and the aroma of spice and tanned skins. After the pleasant acidity is captured, the soft and sweet tannins have a long lingering flavor that spreads throughout the mouth.

Recommended to match with steak with richly seasoned sauce like demi-glace sauce, and also with steak with spicy tasted using herbs and peppers.

• ABV

  13.5%

• CASE/BOTTLE SIZE

  12 x 75cl

• REGION/COUNTRY

  HOKUSHIN DISTRICT, JAPAN

• GRAPE

  MERLOT 100%

• CLOSURE

  CORK

• WINEMAKER

  MITSUHIRO ANZO

• ALLERGEN INFO

  CONTAINS SULPHITES AND NO OTHER ALLERGENS

As grapes were never indigenous to Japan all grapevines had been introduced to the region with the movement of the spice route and silk roads over 2,000 years. It is believed that about 1,300 years ago grapevines were introduced to Japan where the climate was too hot, cold, wet – too extreme – to grow grapes for wine.

Ultimately the existing grape variety most successfully grown in Japan became known as Koshu, which was the then name for the prefecture in which it grew. This prefecture then took the name of a Japanese prince and became Yamanashi, which remains the principal region producing Koshu. Responsible today for 40% of all Japanese grown wine grapes, it is believed to be the naturalised hybrid of a Georgian grape variety. Ampelographers continue to isolate the DNA of Koshu, but we do not actually know, outright, its source. What we do know is that it is a lurid pink on the vine, generally grown in the local tana method (overhead bamboo trellis).

Château Mercian grows Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, whilst experimenting with Albarino, Mencia and others, and has always shared its long experience of producing wine in Japan with every other producer in the region. Château Mercian is the oldest established winery in Japan, starting out in 1870 having sent two young men to France to understand wine making in the European tradition. Indeed the descendants of these two men are still growing Koshu for Mercian today.

Koshu, like many things Japanese, is all about subtlety of flavour, texture and the wine being part of a greater organoleptic experience than the wine itself, so imagine drinking this with a slurpy bowl of hot yum from a chilly noodle shop in the hills. It's part of the whole, not the whole, therefore the fruit is not overt, it's more about texture, acidity and finish rather than outright fruit flavour.