During my latest breeze-through visit at Peninsula Ridge, I tried some of their '06 Merlot and was impressed enough to buy a bottle. The wine showed quite nicely at the winery - especially so for an '06, given that the vintage was plagued by rain and cold in September. The wine tasted light but very spot-on, true-to-variety, and I thought it was quite an achievement given all the obstacles.
13% alc./vol. Medium ruby-garnet hue; decent saturation. Day two saw better integration on the nose than day one; still, at home this wine doesn't strike me nearly as well as it did at the winery. Some oak spice, a bit of cranberry and some unpleasant volatile acidity ... uh oh. No greenness, but no chocolate or plum either. Crisp acidity on the entry, with light-toast oak immediately coming through; nice grippy/chalky Merlot tannins, albeit quite unripe, harsh acidity (now I shouldn't be suprised at all). Very decent mid-palate structure, a bit sour and terse, but with very nice chalky grippy tannins, dusty violets (very varietal), and an oaky finish. No fruit on the mid-palate. Terse and - partly ripe, but partly underripe. It's on the right side of drinkable, but not an outstanding Merlot as cool-climate Merlot goes. I would love to try this same wine from 2007: there should be quite a difference.
I still remember how much I enjoyed Inniskillin's 1999 VQA Merlot: it was very fleshy and dusty, and nicely ripe - that was a long, good vintage in which many a red vinifera worked out nicely here in Ontario. 2006 was a really tough vintage and so in all fairness this Merlot isn't bad, all things considered.