Last night my wine club had a merlot meeting - "Merlot Madness". Every person brought a bottle of Merlot priced $15-20. (unless you were a couple, then you brought one bottle $30-40)
Some contenders were: Tobin James, Franciscan, Wild Horse, Chateau Julien, Jacuzzi, Robert Sinskey, and Selection Delas Merlot. All except the Sinskey were $15-20 and all were very different - some had more spice, some had more cholocate undertones, more oak, etc. But all, every single one, were something I'd drink again and several were quite delicious and complex and are on my shopping list. In general, while everyone had their favorite (or a tie of 2 favorites), everybody agreed with me - we'd happily drink all of them again.
So, thank you Sideways, for leveling the Merlot market and making it so I can get solid good bottles of Merlot in the $15-20 price range. I'm sure eventually the market will go back up, because really, these were stallar examples of solid values and eventually the fact Merlots are good isn't going to be a secret for much longer. But until then....next time you see one of these, feel confident that you'll be picking up a good bottle.
3 comments:
Love the Sinsksy and the Chateau Julien. Actually, has the Sinsky set a record for most brought wine?
I'm a Merlot lover so thanks for the info. Speaking of Sideways, did you know that the same character who complains about drnking Merlot, actually raves about a Merlot later in the movie? He refuses to drink Merlot only because his ex-wife would drink it but audiences didn't quite catch that! I didn't
Rosie,
Yes, I did know that, although I will admit when I saw the movie I didn't know it. It was a little oneophile humor I think.
All of the ones we had were great, although I preferred the Franciscan and Sinskey.
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