What would you pay for truly GREAT Merlot? The most expensive wines in Bordeaux come from the “Right Bank” of the Garonne River and are predominantly Merlot driven, the most expensive of which is Chateau Le Pin, which now sells for $4,000/btl (yes – you read that right!) Petrus is not far behind. Once you get outside France, there’s Italy with wines like Ornellaia’s Masseto which sells for $800/btl. There are other great Italian Merlot predominant wines in the $200 – $300 range, but not that many. When it comes to the “new world” Merlots, you’ve got wines like Duckhorn Three Palms at $120/btl or Shaeffer and Cakebread at $75/btl – there’s a handful of others in that $50-$75 range, but that’s it really. There’s not much from the southern hemisphere – James Irvine’s Grand Merlot from Eden Valley at $75/btl is one of the best.

And then there’s this wine – Downes Family ‘Mt Bullet’ Merlot 2018 (trades in South Africa as Shannon Vineyards). We kid you not – close your eyes, and stylistically, this is like drinking top flight, right bank Bordeaux, which would easily sell for $400/btl. Now add to all this, the concentration of the 2018 vintage, following 3 years of brutal drought in the Cape, and you’re now talking about a wine with the power of some of the great Bordeauxs, like Ausone, Lafleur and Cheval Blanc which sell for $600-$1000/btl. It is our opinion that this IS the best Merlot in the new world. Of course, we’re biased, but you’re welcome to prove us wrong.

Tim Atkin suggests we are NOT overselling this wine – here is what he had to say: 94 Pts – Elgin suffered less from the heat in 2018, according to James Downes, so this is a correspondingly focused, dense, compact Mount Bullet with inky color, chewy tannins, chocolate, damson and blueberry flavors, bright acidity and the structure to age further in bottle. 2023-30

$79.99 per bottle (and it’s as rare as hen’s teeth) ONLY 30cs (6 x 750ml) made it into the US.

DISCLAIMER: As mentioned, in South Africa this wine is sold under the Shannon Vineyards label, but due to a trademark issue with Shannon Ridge Winery in Napa Valley, we’re obliged to market it in the US under the Downes Family label. You will notice that we’ve had a “Downes Family” sticker applied to the front label, in order to be compliant. (This can be peeled off easily, if you like, once you have received your wine) These are the lengths we go to, in order to bring you great wines like this.