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

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.

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.

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

"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

[] ] 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

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