Cabernet Sauvignon vs Merlot---Movie Sideways Issue

Then what happens....?

Petrus is 100% Merlot. Not all Merlots are created equally. Paloma Merlot reminds me of Trotanoy. Most New World Merlot reminds me of Miles' comments.

Petrus' vineyard today is 95% merlot, 5% cabernet franc. Up to the mid-1960s it was around 80% merlot, 20% bouchet (= c.f.).

M.

I think he's referring to the mass marketed, inexpensive Merlots made by many California makers for the US market. These wines tend to be over ripe, soft, flabby and sweet. Even though Merlot tends to be a finnicky grape to grow correctly, there's a lot of it planted in California and it gained popularity in the 90's due to it's easy approachability, soft tannins, sweet fruit and it's easy to pronounce Merlot. There are some good producers of Merlot like Lambert Bridge, Duckhorn, Pride, Chimney Rock and Arietta but these are in a different league. Bi!!

Sawyer Cellars, Matanzas should also be on list.

Don't forget Sterling! They pretty much put Merlot on the map here in California with their 1973 IIRC.

To be honest, I sometimes have a difficult time telling the difference between Merlot and Cabernet when poured blind. That's possibly because each is usually blended with the other these days.

Tom S

Salut/Hi Midlife,

le/on Tue, 25 Jan 2005 23:39:49 -0800, tu disais/you said:-

I have to say that for the better estates in the Bordeaux region, it can sometimes be quite hard to tell whether Merlot or Cabernet is predominant.

specific wine varieties on

Grin... I'd argue that you could leave out the words "specific" and "varieties", and add an 's' to wine.....

Although I'd be the first to agree that the most important factor in the flavour of a wine is the grape variety from which it's made, I'd suggest that Merlot and the Cabs are sufficiently close in flavour for winemaking techniques and terroir to be quite capable of blurring the differences. For ME that's not a problem at all, I can see that it could be, for "New World Wine" drinkers, whose reactions to a wine are very much varietal based.

makes me wonder just what the "gold standard" for

can be, and still be classified as Merlot??

I suppose that's as much a matter of taste as to the style of wine you like as anything else. Both Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot can be made into great fruit bombs, and both can be made with great restraint and subtlety. I happen to enjoy _both_ styles, and I'd argue that the overlap is far more important than the differences. For ME Pétrus and the other greats from Pomerol are going to be the wines by which I judge all Merlot based wines, and Latour etc the yardstick for Cabernet based wines - even if both may contain other grapes. But that's not to claim they're anything other than the "best in their classes". Top CS or Merlot from Napa or Washington could well be considered the yardsticks by someone who is used to /prefers wines in that style.

in article vjZId.8690$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net, Richard Neidich at snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote on 1/23/05 6:45 PM:

I have, for quite a while, found that the California Merlots I like taste more like Cabernet or Cabernet-based meritages. But one thing I've come to enjoy about wine is learning to appreciate the specific wine varieties on their own merits. The fact that I (and many others, apparently) keep comparing Merlots to Cabs makes me wonder just what the "gold standard" for Merlot might be. Are the best Merlots all as close to Cab attributes as they can be, and still be classified as Merlot??

BTW, I would add A. Rafanelli Merlot to the list. Then again, I love it because it is very Cab-like.

When it comes to new/old world I like Young California but Old Bordeaux. To me the Gold Standard is Burgs not CS or Merlot. You can take the Pinot Noir out of Burgundy but you cannot take the Burgundy out of France. There is only one gold standard---Burgs.

My opionion only.

But as I said earlier the CS and Merlot in USA often blurrs.

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Ian Hoare at snipped-for-privacy@angelfire.com wrote on 1/25/05 3:12 PM:

Thanks for your always thoughtful input.