Michael Godel: 2016 Equinoxe Merlot

Équinoxe is a concept, of that we are certain and in any given vintage la façon de penser that is Le Vieux Pin’s Reserve line will give itself up for a grape variety of promise, or in a vintage like 2016, to several worthy of holding the flame. If winemaker Severine Pinte intuits the prospect for balance, above all else, then another Èquinoxe baton is passed. This merlot joins the likes of cabernet franc from a vineyard known as La Feuille d’Or, “the golden leaf,” situated on the Golden Mile Bench. The gravels and cobbles suit these Right Bank-styled wines so well, equipping them with a natural, elemental, metalliferous and matter of fact base from which to develop. If time is permitted (and LVP has graced us this possibility) then all the building blocks will melt, render and morph like pulverized particles through a silken merlot of ductile texture. This glass is just that and the fruit holds taut against the musculature of structure. Opposing forces cooperate, unite and become one. Equal day, equal night. Equal old world, equal new world. Either spring or fall. Uguaglianza, égalité, equality. Drink 2022-2027.