“Cachoterie Merlot”, Cave Beetschen

Voluptuous is the first word that comes to mind. Fruity, oak fully integrated, round and luscious. Just right for lifting the spirits on these gray Lake Geneva days as the fog and early winter start to surround us.

I bought this some time back and cellared it – highly recommend doing this to let it reach maturity. The winery is currently selling the 2012 for CHF35, online.

The wine is oaked for two years in “demi-muids“, 600-litre oak barrels used in the Rhône Valley and Beetschen recommends drinking it at 5-20 years. They make only 1,000 of these a year, from hand-picked grapes.

Beetschen makes a line of wines like this, small quantities from hand-picked grapes, from a few grape varieties.