Winery Tasting – Merlot can have the most luxurious aromatics of any red variety, especially in B.C. and this captures that allure in spades. It is very generous and uplifting with classic red plum, blackberry jam, violet, milk chocolate, fresh herbs/tea and stemmy notes, then in swims the oak resin. Lovely aromatics. It is medium-full bodied at 13.3% weight, not as dense and richly textured as expected, but the flavours are true and run long. The finish dries with crusty, shrubby tannin, and a sense of firm minerality. The length is excellent. There is an appealing drink now juiciness to the palate, but I would age this three to five years. If the length were just a bit longer this would would be scoring 96+.

Backgrounder – Merlot is the number one planted red variety in the Okanagan, growing largely in the hot, dry Black Sage, Golden Mile and Osoyoos regions south of Oliver. As with chardonnay, Checkmate is mining individual terroir sites with three single vineyard bottlings. End Game compiles fruit from all three. Black Rook is from the warmer Black Sage bench; Opening Gambit is from hotter Osoyoos region, and this Silent Bishop is from the cooler, higher, evening shaded western benches south of Oliver. Fruit is hand-harvested with each bunch hand sorted. The fruit is de-stemmed, followed by berry-by-berry sorting.  Each parcel is vinified separately. Tanks are gravity filled, and wild yeasts carry out fermentation. After 10 months of aging, each lot is evaluated, with the best selected for the blend. The final blend is barreled for an additional eight months of aging then bottled without fining or filtration. Following bottling, the wines for an additional year prior to release.