Ron from VA

9.0

My first Burntshirt bottle! I opted to open the Meritage first to see what their overall fruit profile could produce when blended for optimal experience… Quite impressed and can honestly say that it would be amongst the top 3–5 producers in the state… The soil insight are capable of ripening especially in this optimal vintage. All five Bordeaux varietals used and leads to a Monticello or Breaux-style blend. Rich, with plenty of heft, this build is enough but it’s in no way special or distinct. It reflects competency in farming and in winemaking, but lacks a real pizazz or layers of nuance. It’s just nice ;) the 90 score reflects overcoming the obstacles of latitude and possible excess rains. It’s really good by NC standards, which is a victory that they should be proud of. We put this against burgers and baked beans and we were satisfied, that’s a lot to ask of a cab sauv driven blend ;) — 2 years ago

Brett Davis

9.2

Great drop and recommend with pork belly 👌 — 7 years ago

jarred gild

Head Wine Buyer Western Market

9.4

so f'n good. bottle-fermented pignoletto. read about alberto tedeschi on the louis/dressner website: "I'm just getting started: my parents have other jobs, so I'm starting from scratch! We work organically in the vineyard, and it's very important for me to work traditionally in the cellar. And even though I'm renting my vines, I'm ok with that because they produce quality grapes and I can make the wines I want to make. These are fresh wines with great acidity, that can be drank young, but can also age in bottle for quite some time. I am also proud to make GOOD territorial wine; most consider Bologna wine to be an industrial product, and most of the time they are right! I only work with Pignoletto. I drive the grapes (which are in boxes) to the cellar in my van. I then do a direct press; Pignoletto is thick skinned and very tannic, so it's important to be gentle. After that I leave the juice outside overnight, then I rack it to stainless steel. The natural fermentation begins, then nothing! After three of four days, I re-rack the wine back to old oak barrels, where they stay on the lees for 12 months. That's for the Bellaria. For the frizzante, the fermentation and aging is in stainless steel (almost a year). I take a bit of must (which hasn't fermented) I've kept in the fridge, and add it to the still wine, then I bottle. The sugar of the must then begins the refermentation in bottle. It's a really typical way of making wine in our region. In Emilia, we are not famous for rich, big wine. We are country folk! We make easy, drinkable wine made to enjoy in the moment." — 11 years ago