Merlot I Clivi 2023
The Merlot from the I Clivi winery is a red wine from Friuli with an excellent quality-price ratio, perfect for pairing with meat and mushroom dishes. It is made with carefully selected grapes and aged for 12 months in used barrels. The intense ruby red color reveals aromas of red fruits while the palate enjoys a fresh, juicy, and slightly balsamic sip.
I Clivi have been cultivating and vinifying Merlot for a long time, but the idea of creating a label dedicated to the pure varietal is a truly recent story: the first vintage released corresponds to the 2020 harvest. It is a varietal of undeniable charm and high traditions, which Mario Zanusso wants to interpret according to the original French philosophy of subtraction winemaking: elegance is a matter of simplicity and simplicity is a pursuit to be undertaken with precision, in the vineyard work as well as in the cellar operations.
The grapes for the production of Merlot come from a vineyard that I Clivi have cultivated for a long family tradition, consisting of a heritage of old vines that have reached 80 years of age. Positioned above a clay island, it finds a compact limestone rock base at a depth of one and a half meters: a combination that is precisely reflected in some characteristics of the wine, such as salinity and freshness. The plot is located near the winery, in the area of the village of Corno di Rosazzo, in the province of Udine: the landscape is represented by the gentle slopes of the Eastern Hills of Friuli, just a handful of kilometers from the Slovenian border and just above the province of Gorizia and Collio. The agronomic management is based on the guidelines of organic farming, with manual cultivation and harvesting, which lead to low yields of perfectly ripe grapes in the winery. After gentle pressing, the alcoholic fermentation in steel tanks is conducted by indigenous yeasts only, with simultaneous maceration on the skins, and likewise the malolactic fermentation takes place spontaneously, both at controlled temperature. The aging occurs in oak barriques and lasts for 12 months, followed by bottling free from invasive practices.
The Merlot from I Clivi presents an intense ruby color. The aromas are clear and pleasantly changing: introduced by a classic fruity aroma of small forest berries, they are accompanied by a particularly lymphatic vegetal nuance, concluding with a extremely territorial chalky nuance. Also the tasting inspires an idea of levity, supported by a taut freshness that responds to the beautiful fruity softness. Authentic expression of a tactile red and great finesse.