VENTIQUATTRO / SUZUCAN ROSSO MERLOT & CS SV 2022 (Red) 750ml

The vineyard where we made this wine is a 32a vineyard where someone who started farming in 2014 planted Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sangiovese.

In 2019, just after moving to Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, I received a message from the vineyard owner that they wanted to let go because other vineyards became busy, and for me who was looking for a vineyard, I was able to take it over at a good timing.

The altitude is about 350m, which is low for Suzaka City, but because it is far from the mountains to the east and west, the sunlight hours are long. Compared to the neighboring wine-producing village (Takayama Village), although there is no temperature difference, the buds sprout early and the growing period is long.

When I took over the vineyard, I was happy to find that the Italian native variety Sangiovese was planted, which reminded me of the Super Tuscan blended wines representing Tuscany, Italy, which I love.

However, Sangiovese is a very difficult variety to cultivate in rainy Japan; the clusters and berries become large, the berries crack, sugar content is hard to increase, and coloring is poor, so we struggled every year.

However, Sangiovese, when blended with other varieties, produces a mellow flavor not found in other grapes, so in 2022, we limited the yield and focused on sugar content and coloring as much as possible during cultivation.

Since the style is to harvest after ripening, Merlot and Sangiovese were harvested about two weeks later than usual on October 15 and 16, and Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested on November 1.

From 2023, the new vineyard (1.8ha in the Nirei area of Suzaka City) will be the main one, so this vineyard will be cultivated for the last time in 2022, making this wine a commemorative one as the culmination of the fourth year.

Because of the new barrels, we did not want to make the barrel aroma too strong, so we put one-third in barrels and aged two-thirds in stainless steel tanks for 10 months, then blended and bottled it, resulting in a gentle barrel aroma.

I still feel it lacks enough aging to drink. Since it has hardness, acidity, and greenness, we recommend aging it for more than a year before drinking.

We hope you enjoy it while thinking of Italy. Ciao!