Hunt,
Sorry about yesterday's double post. I must have been over-caffienated.
For decent inexpensive Washington Merlot, I like Columbia Crest and Ch. Ste. Michelle (Joel's experience notwithstanding). I have enjoyed some vintages of Preston too, but haven't tasted any recent ones. Also Barnard Griffin, Bookwalter, Hedges. Try Reininger, Buty, Tamarack, Russel Creek, Dunham, Colvin, Leonetti if you can make the down-payment, Walla Walla Vintners, Northstar. These last are all Walla Walla wineries (and tend to be pricey), although all except Reininger source fruit elsewhere in the Columbia Valley AVA as well.
I don't know whether any of the above will knock your socks off, but all are good to my taste, and some very good. Reading your note about "herbaceous" leads me to suspect that our tastes are in fact different. I actually like a little hay, green pepper, even green bean if not too much, in the mix. But I associate that with WA Cab franc and Carmenere (Tamarack, Reininger, and Colvin make wonderful examples) rather than with the Merlots listed above.
As for Oregon, I don't know of any Merlot being grown in the Willamette Valley, the state's best-known appellation. It would indeed be difficult to ripen here. (I recently moved from Walla Walla to Corvallis.) Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties are grown in southern OR in the Rogue Valley, Umpqua Valley and Apple Valley AVAs, but I'm not familiar with them -- yet. Fun indeed.
By the way, (trivia alert!) a couple of the "Washington" AVAs actually overlap into Oregon a bit. Seven Hills for example, one of Walla Walla's longest established and well respected vineyards, is actually in the Oregon portion of the WW AVA.
You Wrote: "Mark Tarbell...rates the '02 14 Hands Merlot as one of the winners, and scored it 90 pts on his rating scale. This is a value-priced Merlot at US$11-15. I will have to give this one a shot, ..."
Me too. I hadn't heard of it.
Cheers.
Andy