TN: It's my birthday, and I drink Merlot

DaleW · 2005-10-03T15:53:49+00:00

Saturday was my 45th, and Betsy invited some friends for dinner. Shehad to play matinee, so cooked maniacally in the morning, and jumpedright back in on return (I was in charge of turning off stove at onepoint, and appetizers).To start we had paté and olives, along with cold shrimp with adelightfully simple warm cocktail sauce (ketchup, vinegar and butterwarmed, then spiked with horseradish). The starter wines were:NV Oudinot ChampagneA nice lighter-styled Champagne, some biscuit and white flowers onnose, crisp green apple fruit with a clean yeasty finish. B/B+2004 Domaine de la Pepiere MuscadetDoes anything more need to be said about this? Light yet withstructure, brilliant seashell/seashore nose with clean fruit and longfinish. B++All my friends attending like wine, but none are geeks, so I looked fora theme that would be fun, instructive (without me being pedantic), andnot ruinously expensive (I love sharing wine with friends, but I do tryto save my most precious bottles for those who might appreciate what isbeing offered- hope that doesn't make me a pretentious A$%hole!).So how about that misunderstood grape, Merlot? I decided on an Anti-Sideways theme, put together menu cards (with the dishes and the wines)entitled "Well,. I AM going to drink some F%^&ing Merlot!"First courses was a take on Balthazar's grilled trout with lentils andspinach. A complex and beautiful dish (though I did do a misflip on onefilet, luckily it was an extra).I thought I'd pair the geriatric Merlots with this, figuring theresolved tannins would make a nice soft backdrop. It was an ok match,but I think a younger lighter more acidic wine (a Beaujolais, lightNorthern Rhone as Bob suggested, or maybe a drier Freisa) would be wayI'd go next time - and there will be a next time for this dish.1982 Dalem (Fronsac)Ok, so a 23 yr-old satellite wine is pretty chancy. And indeed thisseemed a bit overmature when served (a few minutes after beingdecanted). Somewhat tired old Merlot fruit, with an...

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Mark Lipton 20 years ago

Perhaps not bad, Emery, but for my tastes there's more *boring* Merlot on the market than one would find in most other varieties. Even Chardonnay, for all the faults I find with many renditions of it, presents something to either like or dislike; many Merlots OTOH are just bland: soft, cherry/oaky with utterly predictable flavors and no character whatsoever. No doubt this view is colored by my location: YMMV (however, I've had several exceedingly boring and "international" Merlots from France, too).

Mark Lipton

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Ken Blake 20 years ago

Yes. By and large, if a wine is labeled "Merlot," it's much more likely to be bad than a merlot-based wine (like Pomerols) that doesn't use the name. That's a generalization, of course, and like all generalizations, it isn't always true.

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DaleW 20 years ago

I'm with Mark on this one. While I enjoying my "I AM drinking F$%^ing Merlot" party, I actually understood Miles' plaint (at least as far as varietally-identified , and therefore usually New World wines). The US "give me a glass of Merlot" rage of the early/mid 90s has led to a SEA of boring characterless Merlots. While there are plenty of bad Chardonnays and CS (I'll leave PN out of the discussion, as until recently many producers didn't make) out there, if faced with having to order a glass of unknown wine from a producer, I'd always order the CS or Chard before the Merlot. I'm not sure I can name a single under-$20 New World Merlot I'd like to have in my house. But could come up with a dozen Cabs or Chards (ok, half-dozen Chards), plus Zins, PNs, & Syrahs.

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DaleW 20 years ago

Ah, that's what I was trying to say (didn't see your response before I answered/agreed with Mark). Thanks Ken.

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Anders TÃ¸rneskog 20 years ago

"DaleW" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com... Saturday was my 45th

Hi Dale Was away for a long weekend, so didn't know before today - congratulations!

This ng will soon have my annual Mosel report if I find the time and no serious objections are voiced... :-) Anders

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Emery Davis 20 years ago

[] ] character whatsoever. No doubt this view is colored by my location: ] YMMV (however, I've had several exceedingly boring and "international" ] Merlots from France, too). ]

Hi Mark,

I think location has a lot to do with it. I've certainly had some boring cheap Merlots from France, but I'd say it is far out-weighed (out-volumed?) by awful Bordeaux here. What's more, much like the "merlot is wonderful" crowd in the states, most folks here will simply select Bordeaux over all other comers, regardless of the quality, because "Bordeaux is best."

I'm guessing most of these wines are largely CS, although there is no doubt plenty of CF and some Merlot in there too. Truth is they're often so astringent it's difficult to tell the CS from the CF!

Perhaps a German correspondent might see an ocean of bad Riesling, where an Aussie sees one of Shiraz... Thank goodness for variety, eh? :)

-E

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Steve Timko 20 years ago

Flora Springs has a Merlot that's less than $20 that's pretty good.

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Michael Pronay 20 years ago

There is 5% of cabernet franc in the 11.5 hectare vineyard, although in recent vintages (since Christian Moueix manages the estate) the wine is mostly 100% merlot.

M.

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Ian Hoare 20 years ago

Salut/Hi Michael Pronay,

le/on Sat, 15 Oct 2005 18:10:03 +0200, tu disais/you said:-

Thanks for confirming that. I thought I was gooing senile.

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TN: It's my birthday, and I drink Merlot

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