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Merlot Thursday: Martin Ray “Courtney’s CuvĂ©e” Merlot (2021)–and the trouble with wine on tap
The quest to bring back Merlot got a boost this week from a delightful “Sideways Effect” piece by Willa Paskin for Slate: “For years, many believed that one tiny movie brainwashed American wine drinkers forever. The truth is weirder.” All the biggest questions and juiciest details are in that article: Is it true that one…
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Merlot Thursday: Dubourdieu “Liaison” Graves Red Bordeaux Merlot (2022)
As Winter Storm Fern wraps up her national tour, I’m stuck inside for a couple more days. (I love you, Dallas–but your roads don’t function with snow and sleet.) On the plus side, there is plenty of wine at home. In fact, it’s about time I got around to tasting some of these bottles from…
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Merlot Thursday: Sant’Elena Merlot Venezia Giulia IGT (2012)
This whole #MerlotThursday journey has been full of pleasant surprises–and one of the biggest surprises has been how well Merlot can age. Before I started tasting Merlot for the blog, I mostly drank it young (if I thought to drink it at all). Its simple, agreeable flavors seemed antithetical to aging potential. Does a bar…
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Merlot Thursday: Decoy by Duckhorn California Merlot (2022)
It’s time for some Merlot on this Merlot Thursday! 🍇 Today’s Merlot was tasted at a Duckhorn dinner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Dallas. Decoy by Duckhorn is one of the restaurant chain’s two permanent by-the-glass Merlots. (The other one is Bogle, which was our #MerlotThursday pick a few months ago). Duckhorn has been a…
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Merlot Thursday: Leonetti Cellar Walla Walla Valley Merlot (2023)
Merlot Thursday became Merlot Splurge Day when I was offered a wine from one of Washington State’s finest producers: The elegant and evolving Leonetti Cellar Merlot. Founded in 1977, Leonetti Cellar is Walla Walla Valley’s first winery. Its roughly 5,000 cases per year are distributed mostly through member allocation. And so, it was with great…
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Merlot Thursday: RdV Vineyards “Rendezvous” (2021)
With great Merlot comes great responsibility. That was my thought as I took my first sip of the “Rendezvous” Merlot-based blend from RdV Vineyards of Virginia. Pizza in hand, fire blazing, feet propped up on the couch, I thought I was settling for a casual wine-and-takeout weeknight with friends. But the wine was poured and–wouldn’t…
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Merlot Thursday: Hayes Ranch California Merlot (NV)
Ah, California Merlot. The unsung hero of countless wedding banquets, airport lounges, and (ahem) company Christmas parties with an open bar. We talk like Merlot went away sometime in the early 2000s…but really, it never did. It just shuffled off to the back bar to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the…
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Merlot Thursday: No. 3 d’Angelus Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (2020)
Hark how the bells! Sweet silver bells! All seem to say, “Throw cares away! “It’s Merlot day!” (Okay–so I made up that last part.) It’s not only the freaking “Carol of the Bells” that’s living rent-free in my head today, but the famous bells of Château Angelus. Located in a natural amphitheater, the Château’s vineyards…
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Merlot Thursday: Peter Cellars Carneros Estate Merlot (2019)
Each week we drink a different Merlot, and sometimes we drink it in a cool place! Today’s #MerlotThursday wine is a special one indeed, because I got to enjoy it at the winery with the winemaker. Do vineyard vistas make the wine taste better? Of course they can. But Peter Cellars’ Estate Merlot is excellent,…
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Merlot Thursday: Château Chapelle d’AliĂ©nor Bordeaux SupĂ©rieur (2019)
A modest Bordeaux with friends in high places is this week’s #MerlotThursday pick. The wine is Château Chapelle d’AliĂ©nor, which casually name-drops Château La Gaffelière on its crested label. The producer is Domaines Comte de Malet Roquefort, whose holdings include La Gaffelière (a Premier Grand Cru ClassĂ© estate) and four other nearby vineyards. The Malet…
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Merlot Thursday: Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard “The Revivalist” Merlot (2013)
Happy #MerlotThursday, which is also Thanksgiving Day! Today, I’m grateful for three things: Merlot, Australia’s McLaren Vale region, and those generous locker-holders at the wine club who are willing to pour you exquisite samples. A rare single-vineyard Merlot was on the tasting table, the 2023 Hickinbotham “Revivalist.” After decades of supplying dry-farmed grapes for some…
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Merlot Thursday: Boomtown by Dusted Valley Columbia Valley Merlot (2023)
It’s mind-boggling to think about just how new most of the New World wine regions are. Bordeaux was refining its Merlot in the Middle Ages and making lists of the top vineyards two centuries ago. By comparison, Washington’s Columbia Valley became an AVA in 1984. (Which, contrary to what social media is always trying to…