I'm Not Drinking any F*@#ing Merlot!
Way back in 2004, Merlot had a bad name.
Myles, the main character in the movie Sideways, famously uttered his contempt for Merlot in this classic scene. That reputation was probably well-deserved as the market had been flooded with a lot of cheap, crappy wine.
Not anymore. Our friends, Alisa and Ken, recently hosted a blind tasting that proves Merlot is worth a try.
They served a line-up of four wines. For each one, we tried to guess the year, the cost, and the region. We also discussed what we liked and didn't about each one.
We attended a similar party at Alisa and Ken's last year, and a mid-priced Syrah from Ramona was the surprise winner. It proved the value of tasting wines blind - without any preconceived notions of price, region, or relative quality.
Would we have another surprise? Here were the vintages, regions, and price points. Which do you think was the winner?
2010, Montagne-Saint-Emilion, $12
2011, Ramona, $28
2011, Napa Valley, $30
2013, Napa Valley, $40
Perhaps it would help to know the wineries? Here's a photo line-up of the bottles:
And, the winner is...
The crowd favorite was the 2011 Clos du Val Merlot. It has a classic California Merlot taste. Dark fruit and a little spice on the nose and a little fruit-forward with blackberry and plum on the finish complemented with nicely balanced tannins.
Three notes:
We've visited all the wineries except for the one in France.
Trefethen displayed this funny sign outside their winery not long after Sideways came out.
Sally and I both had the Trefethen Merlot marked as #2 on our ballots. That's a surprise, because the last time we visited the winery we thought it was a dud.
