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Ilmerlot

Perfection stems from continuous effort. You can anticipate that some grapes are going to be beautiful, just like a promise of happiness. This happens when nature, the terroir, and the sun are in perfect – perhaps unique – alignment. When this happens, you can only accept the challenge to strive for perfection . It comes from a desire not to waste the exceptional chance, the magic of that coincidence, and aim for the very best. There's a drive to keep that promise, creating the best-balanced, most elegant, expressive and long-lived wine. Ilmerlot is only produced in the best vintages for Merlot grapes. Our first special vintage was 1990. Then we decided to wait for the next outstanding harvest, exceptional enough for the Merlot grapes to lend themselves to making a varietal wine: the miracle happened again in 2001, 2003, and 2009. Thanks to prolonged skin contact and aging for 10 months in barriques, the wine has developed a superb deep garnet colour, intense ripe red fruit flavours, and a combination of complexity and subtlety which supports its particularly fine tannins.

Data sheet

2011

2011 2009 2003 2001 1990

Designation
Sebino Rosso Merlot I.G.T.

Grape varieties
Merlot 100%.

Vineyards of provenance
Three Merlot vineyards planted an average of 33 years ago located in the municipalities of Cazzago San Martino and Passirano.

Harvest period
15 September 2011.

Average yield per hectare
8,500 kilograms of grapes, equivalent to 4,850 litres of wine (must-to-fruit ratio 57%).

Vinification
Ilmerlot is obtained through careful grape selection and skilled vinification, entirely in line with the Ca’ del Bosco method. The grapes are hand-picked in 3 “choice” vineyards, and immediately placed in small crates, where they are graded and chilled. The bunches are individually assessed by expert eyes and hands before they benefit from the exclusive “grape bath”, i.e. a special washing and hydro-massage treatment using three soaking tanks and a drying system. Shortly afterwards, each bunch is transported over the maceration vat to be destemmed; the berries fall into the vat by gravity. This avoids the use of traditional pumps, which cause the skins to break and impart unwanted herbaceous flavors. In 2011, alcoholic fermentation and skin contact took place in the following 21 days, with careful management of temperature and punching down. Pumping over takes place daily, using twin elevator tanks to which the wine, drawn from the bottom of the vat, is transferred by gravity.
The wine is then raised by the so-called “flying tanks”, and is vigorously poured back into the vat, so as to punch the blanket (or “cap”) down. There’s no more natural or effective way of gently extracting color and tannins. After devatting, while still warm, the wine is placed in small casks – 65% new oak, carefully selected and seasoned for a minimum of 3 years. For this vintage, aging lasted 18 months in total, after which the wine was gravity bottled, in a natural way. The innovative filling systems mean that the wine does not suffer from oxidative shock or bottle shock, and does not require the addition of sulfites. Its integrity and wholesomeness are thus guaranteed. Finally, each bottle is marked with a unique ID to ensure full traceability.

Bottling
29th May 2011.

Bottle ageing
Six years and five months.

Data at bottling
Alcohol 13.7% Vol.; pH 3.47; Total Acidity 4.65 grams/litre; Volatile Acidity 0.51 grams/litre.

Sulphites
Total Sulphur Dioxide less than 30 milligrams/litre (maximum legal limit: 150 milligrams/litre).