Tsolis — Anny's Animus Merlot 2014

Anny's Animus is the boutique Merlot from the Tsolis winery (Κτήμα Τσώλη) in Gargalianoi, Messinia, a small, ambitious house that has put the region on the map for international red varieties. Konstantinos Tsolis started out in 1993 with Cabernet vines he had already planted back in the eighties; since 1999 the winemaking has been in the hands of Phillipos Koukis. The name says it all. The poetic back label tells the story of the wine as though it were a person, born in Trifilia, raised in oak barrels, come to rest in the bottle, and above all credits it with a soul, which explains the name Animus; even the label artwork is by a painter, Eleni Michalakopoulou.

This is a single-varietal Merlot from the PGI Trifilia, 13.5% vol., aged according to the back label for 18 months in oak barrel and then a further 24 months in bottle, deliberately given a long élevage and released mature. It retails for around €26.

2014 was a cool, wet and difficult vintage in Messinia, with spring rains, hail at the start of summer and disease pressure, which is why the harvest came about two weeks later and the wines tended to turn out lighter and more aromatic. That this Merlot has 13.5% alcohol, the same as its 2013 predecessor, suggests, however, that it was ripe enough and not picked too early. I tasted it directly alongside the equally old Tomos II Merlot from Panagiotopoulos.

In the comparison its clear superiority was already evident on the nose. It does not come across as quite as fresh as the Tomos II, but it has the more intense nose with thoroughly appealing plum notes. On the palate there is a present acidity that keeps lifting the wine; it doesn't carry all the way through, yet it keeps reappearing. On the finish, too, it still has plenty of fruit to offer. A genuinely well-made, well-aged Merlot at its peak.

Precisely because it is so good, I would drink it over the next five years, because there really is something to lose here. For me, this is 91 points.