Highlights: Mersel Elevate Marini 2021 Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
Time for something very different, and quite wonderful.
Mersel Elevate Marini 2021 Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
12.5% alcohol. This is from the Marini variety grown at 1800 m in Blouza, Lebanon. The vines are 150 years old and are on their own roots. The wine is fermented in Georgian qvevri and then matured in Lebanese amphorae. It says it’s a red wine but it’s actually pale pink/red with some copper hues. Beautiful aromatics of wild strawberry with red cherries and a rose petal floral note. The palate is supple, juicy and fine with mandarin and orange peel alongside the ripe pear and red cherry notes, with a fine spiciness, some stony hints and a lick of wild pepper, as well as leafy green notes in the background. Very fine and digestible, and quite unique. 95/100 (UK agent: Les Caves de Pyrene)
