Viinilehti has again chosen the red wine of the year.
According to Viinilehti’s assessment, the red wine of the year has a robust mouthfeel. Muru Wines
Viinilehti’s red wine of the year is a characteristic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Bordeaux.
The tasty juicy Ripasso from Veneto won silver. The bronze went to the nuanced Piedmontese Nebbiolo.
Muru Wines, which imports the red wine of the year Mikko Haakana and Samuil Angelov immediately contacted the winery in France when they heard about the win in the wine competition.
– We wanted to make sure that we get enough wines to Finland, Haakana says.
The red wine of the year is perfect, for example, for the Christmas table.
– A wine that has matured for a long time works well with meat that has been stewed for a long time. The wine is great for ham, but also for reindeer, deer or, as a main dish, lamb. I definitely enjoy this at the Christmas table, because in addition to ham, it goes well with roots, advises Angelov.
According to him, Château Lamarsalle is working now, but it can also be cellared for less than 10 years. Angelov states that this wine should not be stored for 25 years.
1. Château Lamarsalle 2019, France (€29.53)
Price-quality: Good buy, more than worth the price
Jury’s assessment: An elegantly developed, multi-toned and very characteristic scent with dark cherry, blackcurrant, rich roastiness, pencil tone, animality and a budding stable background.
In addition to the aromas of the fragrance, you can find the shade of plum and the soft nuances of the soil in the rather rich taste. In its mouthfeel, the wine is quite poised. Rich but ripe and soft tannins bring an edge to the taste. The wine leaves a very earthy aftertaste, where you can find currant herbality and horseradish background.
Food recommendation: A delicious wine for dark meat dishes and medium-ripe game. Also with hard, salty cheeses.
2. Tommasi Ripasso Valpolicella 2020, Italy (€21.99)
3. Roberto Sarotto Barbaresco Riserva 2018, Italy (€24.99)
The jury’s comment about the competition:
The spectrum of red wines entered for this year’s competition was pleasing. There were both delicious, very delicate wines as well as thick, powerfully rotting heavyweights. Putting very different wines on the same line undoubtedly poses challenges for judging. The pre-qualifications showed once again that the offer is just right for the Finnish wine enthusiast. Although the country and region-specific selection is not very extensive, we have quality wines available from almost all over the world. The wines selected for the final table mainly came from the old world, the new world was represented by about a third of the wines. The wines of this year’s top three are delicious examples from traditional European wine regions.
This is how the selection was made:
For Viinilehti’s red wine of the year selection Juha Berglund and Antti Rinta-Huumo blindly tasted more than 400 red wines from the standard and order range that the importers had entered for the competition. The bottle size was limited to 0.75 liters and the upper limit of the bottle price to around 30 euros. The wines were tasted and evaluated blindly in several pre-qualification tastings, based on which 32 wines were selected for the blind tasting of the final competition.
Last weekend, Samuil Angelov and Mikko Haakana, together with a small group of helpers, labeled 3,200 wine bottles with the Red Wine of the Year label. Muru Wines