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Coffee Pot Cellars 2010 Meritage. (Cyndi Murray photo)

Coffee Pot Cellars winemaker Adam Suprenant only makes the winery’s Meritage during years with the best harvest and 2010 was by all accounts a banner year for Long Island.

So it is no surprise the 2010 Meritage, our North Fork Wine of the Week, has been flying off the shelves at the Cutchogue tasting room. 

Meritage is a specially crafted vino that allows winemakers to mix various Bordeaux grapes. To create Coffee Pot Cellars Meritage, Suprenant is diligent about tasting each component of the wine to ensure the best, most delightful red blend of grapes.

“The idea for Meritage came about when California winemakers wanted to make a blend, but didn’t want to be concerned with percentages,” explained Suprenant, who is also the winemaker at Osprey’s Dominion and who trained at Bordeaux’s Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and top Napa Valley wineries.

“My goal when I do a Meritage is to make a better wine than its components,” he said. “I taste each component first.”

Coffee Pot Cellars 2010 Meritage is a merlot-based wine that provides intense aromas of blueberry and blackberry with notes of white pepper and earthiness. It creates a “jammy” concentration of dark fruit flavors with a harmonious finish. Suprenant uses 59% merlot grapes, 23% petit verdot grapes, 14% cabernet franc grapes and 4% cabernet sauvignon grapes to create the blend.

Delicious all on its own, Suprenant recommends paring it with a roast lamb.

“It is a special wine,” Suprenant said. “The fruit really pops. There is a fattiness to this wine — rich and textural components. It fills the mouth and then you are left with a long finish.”

The wine is $25.99 and is available at Coffee Pot Cellars’ tasting room located at 31855 Main Road, Cutchogue, NY 11935. It is also available online.

Previously:

Martha Clara’s Northville red

Macari’s Dos Aguas white

Palmer Vineyards albariño

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