Here's a late release Merlot from Sicily that maintains an elegant and poised personality six years after the harvest. The Planeta 2015 Sicilia Menfi Merlot Sito dell'Ulmo offers warm vintage ripeness with cherry liqueur and sun-ripened raspberry. The wine is soft and richly textured with good depth and a long finish that can be counted in minutes. What works best, however, is the elegant approach the wine makes on the senses. It never feels heavy or too extracted. Production is 30,000 bottles.

The 2014 Sicilia Menfi Merlot Sito dell'Ulmo is a darkly concentrated wine with soft cherry layering that segues to spice, plum and moist earth. This is not your usual Merlot by any stretch because there is a wild, slightly green side here that resembles olive or Sicilian caper. But there's plenty of ripe cherry fruit to round off any hard edges. The wine becomes increasingly focused and centered after just a few minutes in the glass.

Planeta's 2011 Merlot Sito dell'Ulmo is a soft and penetrating wine with lush layers of cherry, blackberry, soft spice and tobacco. The wine follows through faithfully with the aromatic characteristics that are commonly associated with Merlot, but in this case the Sito dell'Ulmo vineyard offers Sicilian overtones of toasted pistachio and sweet almond as well. The wine is yielding, soft and offers high drinking satisfaction.