Sideways the movie, interesting note

Interesting that all of your comments apply equally to Shiraz/Syrah, given the substitution of Australian and Rhone quality vintners of S/S for the Petrus and CA high quality merlots.

pavane

Ian,

I agree completely with you on Merlot. That said, however, I find that I fall into the same trap as Mat has done. When well made for properly grown grapes, Merlot is a wonderful wine. Unfortunately, in the US (seems about the same in OZ :-{) there is a vast ocean of poor representatives of that grape. I find myself taking more of a chance on CS at a function, where Merlot is being served. That is not to say that these examples of CS are much better, but they usually (sometimes?) have a bit more to offer.

A quick search of my database yielded an 8:1 CS v M ratio (not taking the M- based Bdx into account. While I don't order ABM (anything BUT Merlot), I just don't try and ferret out the really good ones. When I find one, I usually pick up a handful, but I admit that it is not the first stop on a restaurant's wine list, if grouped by varietal.

Just to keep things even though, I'm compiling TNs on a (Sue) Selby Sonoma Merlot right now and will report it later.

Hunt

If you want to listen what the author of the book has to say about Merlot, there is an inteview with Rex Pickett available on the NPR website.

The matter comes up around minute 14 of the interview.

I heard this interview on the radio first, then read the book and hope to have a chance to see the movie soon.

Hans-Peter

:D

Off the pills that day Ian? ;)

Yes that is very true, but I realise expressions of a grape are not all the same. Which is why such a big hoohah is made about particular appelations, producers etc.

*However*, I *personally* have found the merlot I have had to be poor. Pound for pound I find a lot more drinkable shiraz [and cav sauv] than merlot. Statistically that is significant, the reasons for this are debatable.

I suspected you wouldn't know any decent Oz merlot, but that is fine. You live in France, you are a huge wine buff, it is a no brainer.

O and thanks for the invite. Have to pop in one day in the future. :)

Salut/Hi Keith,

Thanks for pointing out some careless phraseology,

le/on Wed, 19 Jan 2005 20:44:29 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Thanks for the info. As I said, my experience with Australian wines is fairly limited.

Of course you're absolutely right that what I wrote was nonsense.

What I meant to say was that a good Burgundian winemaker will usually make good wines at all levels. Thus even a Bourgogne Rouge from a good grower is likely to be a good exemple of what it is.

But I'd be the first to agree that many (maybe even 'most') don't make good examples of their appellations.

Grin!!

One drinks a *lot* of bad examples, then based on empirical evidence and the laws of probability decides it seems more likely than not that merlot is not their cup of tea.

If you touched the stove and burnt yourself a number of times, would you continue to do it indefinately or cut your losses?

Especially when good examples of a number of other grapes are readily available. So if other grapes have a much higher hit rate, why go back to merlot, especially given the circumstances. I don't recall a merlot I have enjoyed.

And yes I know, there are great examples of merlot, I just seem to be avoiding them.

I've drunk an awful lot of muck, but have always found a production of a particular grape variety that I have liked, except merlot.

So perhaps we should just agree to disagree, I have my experiences, you have yours. Until someone suggests something here in Oz [I shall try some of Keith's suggestions] that is good, I am afraid I shall be doubtful.

Sacre bleu, Ian! I've heard you lambaste Burgundian producers (and rightly so, IMO) for the poor quality of their wines. How does that correlate with the above statement? Did I misunderstand your meaning, or did you mis"speak"?

Tom S

Well I think it is fair to say that we have in a short exchange reached complete agreement! Keep working on your relationship with Mat :-(

In case you are interested, in my view the larger privately owned wine companies in Australia are the reliable ones - Yalumba, Tyrells, De Bortoli and McWilliams spring to mind. The public companies have, I think, too many conflicts to remain focused on good wine at a fair price. There are of course many smaller producers that are very reliable but harder to track down.

Memories of misspent afternoons in the cellars of Pere Patriarche are flooding back as I type. We always wished we could smuggle in tasting glasses instead of using those stupid taste vins!

What's all this got to do with a movie anyway?

Hooroo Keith

Salut/Hi cutecat,

le/on Thu, 20 Jan 2005 07:21:13 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Some bottles were extraordinary - though whether that's good or bad depends upon your taste!!! Some we found magnificent, some we found good and a few we found unexciting. If we were to find fault, it would be that there was a tendency in our opinion to overextract and to try to make _too_ much of a fruit bomb. Attractive to taste, but very hard to imagine with food. But given that the area is so new, relatively speaking, the standard really was very high in the 8 or 10 places we visited.

"Ian Hoare" wrote, with foot firmly in mouth......

HA! It usually me with "foot in mouth" disease!

Loud Bourke, indeed - I resemble that remark!