Kaiken, Ultra Merlot 2016

This is a gorgeous, round, soft and mature red that will make you forget any prejudices you may hold against Merlot! Full-bodied and rich, this is in perfectly aged condition and is loaded with chocolate, leather and integrated cinnamon spice, that adorn the blackberry and plum fruit core. It is very smooth and very approachable.

Kaiken is a really interesting winery; established by the Montes family of the very famous Montes winery in Chile, makers of the benchmark Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Montes Alpha, which is actually just a stone's throw away over the Andes.

It is a winery that does things in a very considered if conservative manner, but that is no bad thing! Established in 2002, the winery was given one task by Aurelio Montes, which was to mirror the quality of winemaking that he had achieved on the other side of the Andes.

Set in Mendoza and with vines in the Uco Valley and specific plots in Lujan de Cuyo, the winery has access to the areas that have consistently produced the best fruit for decades. The Merlot vines are grown in the Vistalba sibzone, where the family have extensive Bordeaux varieties that are in vineyards with incredible age - these Merlot vines have an average age of a staggering 75 years!

It's not that this means it's necessarily better than anyone else's reserva-style Merlot (but it is...); it's simply to prove that the quality of fruit is as good as it could possibly be: the winemaking then performs the alchemy and - pop - the results are in the deliciousness of the bottle in your hand. It appears to be simple... but there's nothing simple about doing the simple things well!

Oh and the label has a goldy-looking flattened v-shape. It's the profile of the Kaikenese geese from whom the winery takes its name - these indigenous geese fly high over the Andes to nest and are native to the south, in Patagonia. Can't help but think there might be easier spots to find shelter...