Sideways the movie, interesting note

What was the rant on Chardonnay?

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in news:1105929432.771239.46760 @c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

basically against big oaky malolactic cal chards

Oh, I thought it was about Chardonnay in general. I like my Argiolas Nuragus and Vermentino better than any Chardonnay anyway.

I was thinking of this movie and posting a thread in this group. :) Beat me! ;)

I'm very much looking forward to it for the wine angle, and also it is supposed to be a superb film.

I saw one of the promo clips, where him and his friend are having an argument and he says something like "We're gunna have to go in there and drink merlot. I'm not going in there to drink merlot!". It looked quite funny.

I have to say I'm not a huge merlot fan generally. It usually makes my teeth feel like they are going to fall out [ie everything I've had has been quite sweet]. I prefer my reds a lot drier.

So does anyone like merlot? I know a lot of the time it "fleshes" out blends including French varietals, but pure merlot I find terrible. But almost all of the new to wine ppl I know rave about it. Probably because it is like sugar water [to me anyway].

And is the film [Sideways] as good as they say?

You are inviting the troll to speak

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Hear hear!

Even though I live in Germany and am spoilt for Riesling-choice, I have been forced to elevate the Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino di Sardegna to almost 30% of my white-wine consumption, at least till the bottles I brought back from the green island last.

Cheers

It's a troll. Dont feed it.

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Ir's really very, very good!

Have you had the Nuragus?

Mike Tommasi:

Shut the hell up!

Sideways is a big HOOT..go see it..!!

Hi

Last week in San Diego I went to Arterra up on El Camino Real and I had a very interesting "shiraz" from California, I forgot the name, Marjorie? Marjoram? Something like that, plus the name of the wine was like a code, I keep thinking of M25 but surely that can't be it (horror!), this wine allegedly made hugely popular after appearing in a movie. Is this the movie? Any more info about the wine? I found it very syrah-like, with very subtle oak and plenty of powerful spice.

Anyhow the restaurant is truly very good. My duck was beautifully prepared.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Mat,

I liked the film a lot, but would think it a sad commentary on current film if it's the best of the year- good, funny, sometimes provoking, but not really profound.

As to Merlot, I think it's helpful to differentiate between Merlot (as a grape) and Merlot (as commonly produced in California, especially the under-$20 bottles).

Merlot the Grape is clearly capable of greatness- Petrus is about 95% Merlot, for that matter I can't think of a Pomerol that is less than

75%, all of which could be labeled Merlot if in CA. Falesco's Montiano (sometimes good, occasionally great) is 100% Merlot. And while not always totally in my favorite styles, some quality CA merlots such as Matanzas, Pride, Pahlmeyer etc are certainly world class wines.

But when people go into a restaurant and order "a glass of Merlot",that's not what they want or get. Some California winemakers have created a style of Merlot that appeals to a lot of people, if not neccessarily a lot of geeks. In a warm climate Merlot can easily make a fully ripe grape with high yields. The prevalent style is :

1) ripe low-acid 2) some new oak (or oak chips) 3) low tannins (Merlot as a rule is less tannic than CS) 4) possibly a tiny amount of residual sugar. Even if they don't leave any RS, ripe fruit and low acidity will leave a "sweet" impression. HTH

Found my scribbles :

Margerum M5 Syrah, Santa Barbara 2003

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Hello Keith,

Yeah I have gathered that merlot is such a hardy resilient grape that it is very easy to crank it out cheap. Which is probably why it is responsible for a lot of poor wine. I don't care what anyone says about that statement. I've had a lot of bad merlot. Put me right off it in fact.

I know ppl who drink nothing *but* Australian merlot. Perhaps I am missing what they see.

1&Category_ID=2 The rosevears sounds interesting. When I think of Tasmania I don't really think of merlot.

And the Yalumba is dirt cheap. The merlot of any vintage has not come up in Halliday [2005 nor 2003, I don't have my 2004 on me], but that may just be because he missed it.

I do have to say however the Y series [the next line up] merlot was what I'm talking about when I talk about bad merlot. I think I had the 2003 and possibly one or two earlier vintages and despite it having good ratings etc in various wine writers stuff I did not like it at all, nor did anyone else I know who has had it.

As an aside, I've also found the Y series cab sauv to be generally poor. The riesling in particular, and one or two of the other whites are generally supposed to be quite good. The Viognier [2004] was excellent for example.

I just checked, I thought I still had a bottle of the merlot, but gave it to my Dad I think, who also did not like it.

Thankyou for the suggestions though Keith, I think I will have a crack at the Yalumba Oxford Landing and see what comes up. I think it will be very interesting.

Thanks again,

Mat.

Salut/Hi Mat,

Chuckle...

le/on Tue, 18 Jan 2005 07:13:12 +1100, tu disais/you said:-

Oh, don't worry old son, I will!!

As usual, the problem is in thinking of the cepage as if it were uniform. Bad wine is bad wine wherever it comes from and wherever (and from whatever grape) it's made. If I had judged Syrah by the lake of wretched wine that is made from the grape, and then written here about it in the terms you used about Merlot, you'd have every right to pick me up on it.

I've no _idea_ what decent Merlot is available in Oz, nor what it costs or whethr you consider it affordable. I've given you the name of three wines (I could have chosen many others) whose wines are wonderful and can stand up to the best in the world. But just as top Oz wines are expensive, so they are in France. Come to Europe and I'll be delighted to let you taste some reasonably priced Pomerols.