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.

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 Hunt,

le/on 19 Jan 2005 00:08:39 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

(Forgive me, "the Merlot grape makes wonderful wines")

Yes, I knew about the stuff available in the USA, and I guess that the reasons may be the same as pertain in Oz. It could very possibly be true that you _can't_ get the sort of yield demanded in the USA from Merlot and get good wine, it may be that it doesn't like the winemaking techniques used in most places. That said, while we were on the West Coast this year, we went inland to Walla Walla, and had some magnificent Merlot based wines.

I've heard it said that it is only ever good in Pomerol (or Bordeaux). That's simply not true. Apart from Walla Walla, I've had some mind boggling Merlot from Tessin (Ticino) in Switzerland and from Vilyán in Hungary, to name just two regions which sring to mind. But of course even there (or in Pomerol) there are boring wines from the variety. Which is why I said that the trap that is waiting for those who judge wines _just_ by their variety. One drinks a few bad examples, and then damns the lot.

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

Oh, good that you posted this, Ian. I was holding off my usual shrieks of "but we do great Merlot here in Washington" hoping that someone would speak up. And of course we knew that you'd been on the West Coast last year. Glad that you liked what you had...

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.

Salut/Hi Tom S,

le/on Thu, 20 Jan 2005 05:58:41 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

as I explained to Keith, I thought one thing, and wrote something else that was utter nonsense! When I said "a particular producer" I meant "a particular _good_ producer. D'you see? So - I have never had a bad wine from

- say - Michel Bouzereau in Meursault. While his Genevrière is wonderful, and I'd buy it almost without tasting, I am equally confident that his Bourgogne Aligoté at the other end of the quality scale will be good _as am Aligoté_. That's what I was contrasting with my experience with Penfolds, to take the specific Australian Winery.

But against that I have to say that we very much liked _all_ the wines we've tasted from St Hallett's, which is more than I could say for even as prestigious a negociant as Bouchard. So perhaps I'd better just retract the lot and shut up! (Fat chance).

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

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

Loud Bourke, indeed - I resemble that remark!