Terrazo Merlot delle Venezie

Wine: Terrazo Merlot delle Venezie

Grape: merlot

Region: Venice, Northern Italy

Vintage: 2005

Price: $4.99

In the glass: Terrazo Merlot is a dark garnet-red color with a fine, tinged semi-opaque core going out into a light spinel-colored rim definition with medium viscosity.

On the nose: It has immediate slightly rustic but fully mature notes of sloe fruit, bramble, loganberries, plums and wild cherries. Because this merlot has reached full potential, secondary notes of earthy minerals, leather and tobacco are present, with hints of leaves and crushed rock.

On the palate: The wine is soft and rounded with slightly spicy berry fruit, sloe fruit juice, rustic elderberry, mulberry and hints of earthy minerals. The midpalate is firm and softly tannic, showing fully mature plummy and leathery red fruits, going into a good and still balanced finish that displays yet more wild cherry fruit and herbs de Provence. It is an excellent medium-bodied wine all the way to the finish.

Odds and ends: It's not every day one comes across a fully mature merlot from Italy, because merlot is not a widely used grape varietal in many areas of the country and also because they are usually consumed when quite young. One does not normally associate Venice with wine production, either, but like so many other great cities in Italy, there's a thriving viticultural area within the Venice "zone." Famous for the crisp and delicious white wines, the "delle Venezie" appellation also is home to international red varieties such as this merlot. Terrazo Merlot is the perfect lasagna wine. It should be consumed this year.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.