Le Grá Cut Cane Wairarapa Merlot 2023 $67 
Crafted in an experimental ‘Amarone’ style, the team at Le Grá have cut the grapevine canes, which denies the ripe berries access to water and nutrition, so they naturally begin to shrivel, concentrating the sugars and creating a really unusual style of merlot. Aromatically it’s a different beast, featuring characters you wouldn’t normally associate with merlot, things like banana, blackcurrant and even smoked citrus – so it’s almost like you need to get your head around trying a different ‘red wine style’ as opposed to a ‘merlot’. I think it’ll have settled into itself better in another year or so.
