So Mark had the idea a few weeks ago to taste some Merlot. He mentioned something about Sideways promulgating a generation of Merlot-haters, and that perhaps it needed some protection from that big bully, Pinot Noir. So I moseyed on over to the Bistro and met up with Mark and Tucker. Tucker was whipping up an heirloom tomato salad with Thai basil, Mark was being the affable host he always is, and Frank was on the radio. A few bars into "My Way" and we were off on our way to an exciting adventure in the world of Merlot... Or so we thought, until we tasted the first one we opened, the Hahn Winery Merlot from Central Coast.
We picked up the usual notes of plums and prunes, then noticed some mild oak, soft tannins, and a little burn on the finish. And that was about it. We could say it was pedestrian, but it'd be more fun to say that it's like a bad first date with a girl who won't stop talking about her cats and bible study. Mark assured me he bought it from Whole Foods, but I could have sworn he meant the corner store. We waited for it to open up, and it eventually did; regrettably, it was only to exponential banality. You might bring this wine to your least favorite Aunt's holiday dinner. Or cook with it. Or re-gift it. Or just not buy it in the first place.
Disappointed but undaunted, we opened up the next wine, a Red Diamond Merlot from Washington State, only to begin realizing that perhaps Merlot does need to be bullied. Or at least the producers of most of these less-than-$20 dollar Merlots. We really didn't have much to say about this one. I could have copied and pasted the winemaker's notes for the Red Diamond, but it was quicker to just keep typing. Tucker said it wasn't as bad as the Hahn, but it was still boring. Usually ever-tolerant, we were beginning to jump on the Merlot-hating bandwagon, until we realized that it's not Merlot that we dislike, rather particular producers and their prosaic proffering (sorry, alliteration was on my students' list of literary terms last week).
Moving on, moving on...
Like Lindsey Buckingham, we've been down two times...and after two misses, I was half-expecting to be down three. My mistake, I should have been fully expecting to be let down a third. Our last Merlot of the evening was the Little Black Dress, a wine that we were hoping would be awesome because it "partners with numerous charities that support women and their drive to succeed." And, like, you can totally go to the website and post a picture of yourself in your favorite black dress! Well, gag us with a spoon and stick a fork in our eyes, because either of those would have been preferable to quaffing these last three quacks. The Little Black Dress was definitely nothing to burn your bras over, ladies. Even though it was the least offensive of the three, it was still described as 'least offensive', so there you have it...
Like Lindsey Buckingham, we've been down two times...and after two misses, I was half-expecting to be down three. My mistake, I should have been fully expecting to be let down a third. Our last Merlot of the evening was the Little Black Dress, a wine that we were hoping would be awesome because it "partners with numerous charities that support women and their drive to succeed." And, like, you can totally go to the website and post a picture of yourself in your favorite black dress! Well, gag us with a spoon and stick a fork in our eyes, because either of those would have been preferable to quaffing these last three quacks. The Little Black Dress was definitely nothing to burn your bras over, ladies. Even though it was the least offensive of the three, it was still described as 'least offensive', so there you have it...
So after three quotidian (dare we say abysmal?) American Merlots, we haven't completely lost hope, but we also don't foresee any more Merlot posts in the near future. We know there is good Merlot out there, it just wasn't on the menu tonight.
Enter our savior of the evening:
Enter our savior of the evening:
Eventually Mark ended up saving the day with a Chateau Saint-Andre Corbin from St. Georges-St. Emilion (75% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc). It left us wondering why we hadn't been drinking it all night. It was actually the first wine of the night that we toasted, which says a lot for this crowd. Perhaps the unfortunate truth is that it's hard to find a decent domestic Merlot for under $20 (ok, not entirely true, because the Charles Smith Velvet Devil and the Independent Producers Merlot come to mind...maybe those are due for an upcoming review). But the ones we lean towards are quality ones in the $50 range or so, with Shafer being Mark's favorite. We are still on a quest to understand Merlot. Why do we love old world Merlot-dominant Bordeaux? Is it the terroir? The age of the vines? The Atlantic air versus the Pacific? The cumulative, generational experience of wine-making? Or is it the lack of desire for mass production and formulaic, crazy-aunt pleasing wines? We're not ready to give up. The Charles Smiths and Shafers of the world give us hope, but they are few and far between. In "It Was a Very Good Year," Frank sang 'from the brim to the dregs,' but our evening went the other way around and, after going back to the Old World, we couldn't have ended the note on a better night.
