There are at least three places where wine just tastes better: In the vineyard, in the cellar, and in the middle of the ocean. The latter place is where I am this #MerlotThursday, onboard the Enchanted Princess and cruising across the Gulf of Mexico.
The house wines on Princess Cruises are a mixed bag and the glassware is sometimes hot from the dishwasher. But they’re served with a smile–and besides that, I’m on vacation and drinking wine on a boat! Things could be worse.
It was with that stubborn sense of delight that I approached Morpho Helena Merlot, from Chile’s Valle Central DO. This is the Merlot that’s available to you if you’re on Princess’s basic “Princess Plus” drink package, which I am.
Upgrading to “Princess Premier” gets you access to a more brand-name focused (but overall boring) wine list–your Belle Glos Pinot, your Whispering Angel. So I decided to keep it real and instead taste through the basic varietal wines, mostly from California or South America.
Morpho Helena appears to be made by Bodegas y Viñedos De Aguirre exclusively for the cruise line market. The label features a fashion drawing of a woman in a blue and black dress. “That’s my girlfriend,” the bartender jokes as he pours the Merlot into a steaming goblet and slides it across the black marble bartop.
Deep ruby color. Stewed raspberry, black plum, framboise liqueur. Overall fruit-forward and medium in intensity with light herbal aromas of red vermouth, raspberry tea, dried crushed mint. On the palate it’s red cherry and berries with watered-down chocolate. Short, slightly vegetal finish with medium drying tannins. Though far from complex or concentrated, this is a decent, easy-drinking wine with just enough acidity to balance its quite ripe fruit.
I sip the Merlot happily for an hour as I watch the steakhouse bar staff slinging martinis. As it opens up, flavors of berry, cocoa, and green pepper expand, then resolve themselves into a balanced mouthful. Sarah comes back from a comedy show and I offer her a sip from my glass. “Chile’s kicking everyone’s ass on value, huh?” she says resignedly. Yep.
Later, I blind-tasted the 2021 vintage. Also medium-bodied and simple in style, but paler red and far more savory. The 2021 Merlot has rapidly developing aromas of smoked meat and pemmican to accompany its bushels of green pepper. (It does taste distinctively Chilean and I called it as Carménère–partial credit for me!)
Cruisers: If you see Morpho Helena Merlot behind the rail on your ship’s bar, or if a bottle shows up in your stateroom as a gift, twist that cap and give it a go. It’s actually not bad. It’s a much, much better wine than Princess Cruises’ house Cabernet, the hideously overoaked and cooked-tasting Canyon Road.
Hats off to Nero and Dijana and the rest of the capable team at Crown Grill on Enchanted–you are beverage masters! (Princess, if you’re reading this, these good folks need more wineglasses.)
Bottle: Morpho Helena Merlot (2024)
Variety: Merlot
ABV: 13%
Suggested retail: $15
My rating: 7.7 (out of 10)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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