Tag Archives: merlot

Budget Wine Review: Waterbrook Merlot Columbia Valley 2015

31 Friday Aug 2018

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waterbrookWaterbrook was the 4th bonded winery in Walla Walla, founded in 1984.  They produce consistent, affordable wines year after year and advertise their aim as varietal correctness. With this Merlot they succeed up to a point, but it is too lean around the mid section.

Aromas of black cherry, vanilla, a background hint of nutmeg and a bright citrus note make for a pleasant profile.

The palate adds chocolate to the proceedings on a medium frame with powdery tannins. The midpalate is  hollow but good acidity gives the wine some freshness on the finish with tart pomegranate notes. A Very linear wine without much energy, it finishes with some tannic breadth and crisp top notes but little midsection to integrate them. If you like restrained, food friendly Merlot with bright acidity, this is your wine but fans of richness will be disappointed.

The cool, brisk, elegance of Bill Evans Witchcraft was a good match for this wine.

Score: 86

Price: $15 (purchase here)

Alc: 13.9%

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Budget Wine Review: Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Merlot 2016

23 Friday Feb 2018

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trader joes merlot copyI seldom dip my toe into the $5 and under wine pool—life is too short. But Trader Joe’s often has some good bargains so I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Meh.

The red-fruited nose is buried in green leafy notes covered up by a weird popcorn aroma which immediately mark this as an inexpensive wine. But there is a pleasant earthiness to the aroma that puts it on the road to redemption.

On the palate it opens smooth and soft yet thin, the medium body lacking viscosity or concentration. But it drinks easy.  There is some red fruit lurking, cherry and cranberry, but too prominent vanilla covers it up. The short finish is angular with sharp acidity that lacks support from wimpy tannins.

Of course much of this is be expected from a $5 wine. (The grapes are organically grown if that matters to you.) The question is whether this is a good value for $5.

You could do worse, and if the combination of popcorn and mushroom is something you find intriguing then by all means go for it. After all when you’re searching the bottom shelf something distinctive and different is more exciting than the usual sea of bland.

Give it points for being quirky but don’t expect to be wowed.

This wine seemed to hit a groove with smooth Latin jazz, like Celso Fonseca’s Meu Samba Torta. The music brings out some lushness.

Score: 82

Price: $5

Alc: 13.5%

Budget Wine: Blackstone Merlot Winemaker’s Select California 2015

06 Friday Jan 2017

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blackstone merlotWe’ve all had the experience of meeting someone who seems interesting and compelling when you first meet only to find out their really boring and irritating when you get to know them. That was was my experience with this wine from the conglomerate Constellation Brands.

The nose of plum, coffee and milk chocolate is bold but simple. In the mouth it’s chocolate smooth and fruity like most budget Merlots, with powdery tannins and some obvious sugar that carries through from beginning to end. In the end, this sugary dimension kills the wine. I enjoyed the first few sips but after 4 or 5 it became so cloying I just wanted to spit it out. And the mercifully short finish falls apart with the acidity and fruit occupying separate worlds.

If I were grading only on effort it would get an A for trying to be sexy.

The 2011 vintage was a blend of 79% Merlot, 13% Syrah, 4% Petite Sirah, 2% Tannat, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 11 months in a combination of French and American oak, 80% new. There is no updated information for more recent vintages.

Score: 82

Price: $9

Alc 13.5%

A perfectly engineered hit about sexy like “Baby I Need Your Lovin’” will make this wine live up to its promise.

Saint Glinglin Carte Verte Cotes de Bordeaux 2011

13 Tuesday Dec 2016

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saint glinglinThe endless search for inexpensive, drinkable Bordeaux continues. This one is drinkable and interesting although not quite classic Bordeaux and not quite inexpensive. This wine is the brainchild of American sommelier Richard Betts in collaboration with French negociant François Thienpont.  St. Glinglin is translated as “when pigs fly” as in when will Bordeaux make a good, cheap wine, according to Betts.

A little funk is always Bordeaux-like and this wine has it Mushroom and a dank mossy note hangs on the dark, plummy, stewed fruit. The fruit is darker  with more depth then most inexpensive Bordeaux.

In the mouth this is no California charmer. Big but not plush, the rich, ripe fruit and coffee is set off with plenty of tangy acidity on a medium plus frame that finishes long but with woody bitterness from prominent tannins on the back end. There is good density on the midpalate and its all rather briary.

Intense and without the dreaded leanness of many inexpensive Bordeaux, it has lots of juicy flavor but a distinct rusticity nipping at the edges, situated between the new and old world which I think is the point.

It’s 100% Merlot from the right bank regions near St. Emilion banded together under the Cote de Bordeaux appellation and aged for 18 months in concrete vats so the woodiness I get on the finish is a little puzzling—maybe some oak chips?

This is bold, dense, a little tough, but tender—a Katniss wine.

This song from 60 Channels” Still Burnin’” brings out some intricacies on the nose and tamps down the bitter wood on the palate.

Score: 88

Price: $24 (although I found it for $15)

Alc: 13.5%

Budget Wine: La Fleur Du Roi Red Bordeaux 2012

23 Friday Sep 2016

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la fleur du roiThis is what cheap Bordeaux should taste like.

Simple plum with chocolate hints that peek around the funky earth that reminds me of decaying leaves (which to me is a pleasant aroma). This is an everyday wine but it has the vigor to move the mind placing you in a forest in early fall. An under $10 wine that can do that is to be treasured. The palate is  round up front but tart acidity is immediately apparent so the texture feels layered despite being a bit slender. The tannins are soft at first and then gently drying with acidity driving the medium length finish.

80% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon.

A humble but sincere wine with an autumnal flair.

The hushed but hopeful Northern Sky by Nick Drake with its softly vibrant texture captures the mood.

Score: 87

Price: $10

Alc: 12.5

Chateau de Rauzan Augey Bordeaux Red 2014

22 Friday Jul 2016

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augeyMore cheap swill from Bordeaux but it’s an honest wine. It tastes exactly like cheap Bordeaux.

Red currant, smoke and green twiggy notes suggest under ripe grapes, confirmed by the meager palate which is thin, tart and roughly-textured with a medium length puckering finish. The nose has some presence but its hard to get much enjoyment from this.

If you are like me you can’t resist trying an unfamiliar, inexpensive Bordeaux just to see if someone has figured out how to make a contemporary, affordable wine from that region for the export market. They rarely deliver even for the price.

75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Score: 82

Price: $8

Alc: 12%

The music must be light, spare, rustic, and a little sad. Johnny’s looking good in this one.

Red Fox Cellars “Bourbon Barrel” Merlot NV American

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

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red fox merlotI just finished a satisfying week tasting the fine wines of Colorado’s Western slope.

I chose this one to ponder for an evening because it was aged in bourbon casks. Does that make a difference? I’m not sure, but in any case this is a very good wine.

It shows a highly-developed, complex nose with a distinctive flavor note which I found in most of the Bordeaux varietals here. I call it coriander-laced black cherry. Pronounced vanilla with a layer of mushroom provide contrast to the spiced fruit. But underneath it all there is a hint of dried apricot.

Dark, dry fruit fills the palate initially, and then more spice as the palate evolves. Full bodied and creamy yet lively and supple, it is well-framed with fine tannins and crisp acidity in balance, and a long,even tempered fade showing lingering wood notes  on the tail end of the medium-length finish.

This wine expresses an autumnal character. Very ripe, drying fruit,  fully developed, with warm, comforting spices, a melancholy elegance—lovely.

Red Fox Cellars is a relatively new winery (estate grapes on the way)  that takes pride in their willingness to experiment—hence the bourbon barrels used to age this wine.

So what difference do the bourbon casks make? I pick up the coriander note in other Colorado wines using conventional oak. Bourbon acquires vanilla notes from the oak but so does wine. I think the difference is in the dried fruit. Raisin or fig notes are common in red wine but the dried apricot is more characteristic of bourbon. But it is very subtle. Don’t expect a wine that tastes like whiskey. But do expect originality. Experiments are good when they work—this one does.

Score: 92

Price: $20

Alc: 14.1%

Yo La Tengo gets autumnal melancholy in the aptly title Autumn Sweater

Budget Wine: Fat Cat Cellars Merlot California 2013

25 Friday Mar 2016

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When buying cheap wine, if you find one that isn’t offensive that’s a victory. If it delivers a bit more flavor or is interestingly different that’s a cause for celebration. This Merlot from Bronco Wine Company is not particularly interesting but on the drinkability standard it’s a real winner. Bright, cheery, but well structured with a silky texture, this is a fine everyday wine.

Blueberry and red currant aromas mix with oak-generated flavors of chocolate, coffee and a little nuttiness.  Not  complex by any stretch of the imagination but not boring either.

The balanced, medium-weight palate delivers a hint of minerality and herbal notes on the finish and the tannins announce their presence without getting grippy. Nicely proportioned, a little complexity and more flavor and length than most wines at this price

I can’t find anything not to like especially when I see it the shelf for $6 or $7 dollars.

Some classic smooth jazz pairs nicely

Score: 86

Price: $6-$8

Alc: 12.5%

Budget Wine: Smoking Loon Merlot “The Original” Central Valle 2013

21 Friday Aug 2015

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smoking loon merlotWhere would we be without knock-offs? Without cheap imitations of sunglasses, designer jeans, or handbags, most of us would be forced to scour thrift shops for something to wear. And generic drugs are a real boon to humankind. So there is a real need for cheap wine that mimics the icons. This wine does a passable imitation of quality California Merlot even though the grapes are from Chile.

Nicely delineated layers of plum, spice, and cocoa, wrapped in gentle vanilla. Not much intensity, complexity, or depth but all the elements are there.

A medium body, soft, round, and mercifully dry with an acid burst at the back end of the midpalate which propels a short but juicy finish developing herbal notes as it fades. No tannins in evidence so it comes off a little wimpy but after the second glass who cares—amirite?

A few layers, a little evolution, a shapely body, at a gentle price—it’s no Pahlmeyer but hey it’s not that hard to imagine that replica bag makes you a fashionista.

Recommended if your income is under 1/2 a million.

Pair with some replica reggae:

Score: 86

Price: $8

Alc: 13.5%

Budget Wine: McManis Family Vineyards Merlot California 2013

20 Friday Mar 2015

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mcmanis merlotPlying the bargain bins and bottom shelves of supermarkets is a frustrating, occasionally rewarding task.  The McManis Merlot is one of those rewards.

Precise, pretty layers of red plum, chocolate, and vanilla inflected with black pepper and earthy highlights make for a very seductive nose. The palate is soft, smooth, and sexy, medium-bodied with a hint of glycerol, just enough acidity to keep it in balance and reticent tannins that provide subliminal décor for the acts of cajolery upfront. A bit of tart berry shows on the short finish. This is a wine very comfortable in its skin, poised and controlled, too slender and elegant to strive for bombast, a little thin on the midpalate but knowing its charm will carry the day. It won’t satisfy the power hungry, but if you enjoy delicacy and polish this will satisfy. As an inexpensive date-night wine you can’t miss with this.

And for accompaniment you want ultimate cool, the slickest song in history, a song so luscious it’s like listening to chocolate:

Score: 88

Price: $10

Alc: 13.5%