Monday, August 31st, 2009
Be it “Right Bank” Bordeaux US-grown clones, Merlot goes great with lamb. Tonight I’m enjoying a glass of Shinn Estates’ “Red” (which is so very obviously at least 60% Merlot… wait, let’s look it up… 75% Merlot!); the glass of wine by itself is forgettable, but the same glass of wine paired with a lamb stew, is fantastic!
Merlot can taste like a ridiculous number of fruits, but its claim to fame in my mouth is that it covers your mouth with flavor without covering your mouth with meal-disrupting tannin. Yes, it *can* age for 50 years when done “right,” or you can mistake its burliest examples for a well-made Cabernet. No, you can not count it out when you make something that needs wine paired with it.
Merlot comes in as a meal-savior when Cabernet presents its more-usual-than-I-would-like-it-to-be problem of being so often made for point scores and not for enjoyment. Cabernet gets covered in oak and tannin to impress critis, and Merlot quietly scoots by with a slick and creamy, yet still uplifting, palate of black and red fruits dusted in chocolate, bacon fat, and even green olives and tobacco.
Unless it’s December and you own a Kobe beef ranch, you should probably look to Merlot for your dinner parties before you look to Cabernet… if only so that you don’t get embarrassed when that’s what, I, your wine-snob friend brings for you!
California, France, Merlot | No Comments
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
The wine shop I run doesn’t have much of a mark up, but the new Wineberry boxes I just started stocking, are almost shockingly inexpensive. When it was packaged in individual bottles, the Moulin de la Roquille red Bordeaux had to be priced at roughly $17 for us to make our money back on it, but when you stop having to pay for heavy glass bottles and shipping for heavy glass bottles, you get a ridiculous deal. 
A box of Moulin de la Roquille is FOUR BOTTLES OF WINE! Four bottles of Roquille would have cost $68 (4×17=68), but because of savings on packing and shipping, these same four bottles put into a box cost only $39.99. A formerly $17 “weekend-only” wine becomes a $10/Tuesday night/drink however much you like wine.
The best part is that, since it’s vacuum-sealed, it stays fresh up to two months after opening.
I love that now everyone gets to drink top-notch French wine any time they like. This is very much how the wine world should work!
Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines | No Comments
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
Click here to watch a review of Chalk Hill Winery’s four best bottles: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. 
When I fall in love, I fall in love hard, and I’ve fallen completely in love with Chalk Hill Winery. Maybe it’s just because Jordan Fiorentini is the most passionate, exuberant winemaker I’ve ever met, but Chalk Hill is the one California winery that wine snobs and wine newbies can adore.
Both fruit and earth drive these wines. Each bottle is a product of both the California sunshine and the winery’s 60 different terroirs. Every bottle is shipped ready-to-drink; the winemaker’s goal is to make sure that the wine leaves her winery ready for you to enjoy. Pop these bottles over the next two years and impress your family, your friends, and your palate.
Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Chardonnay, Merlot, New World, Wine Reviews, Wine Videos | No Comments
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Bordeaux Blend
Ugh… another new vintage of a wine I fell in love with three vintages ago. Imagine falling in love with a man and then, only six months into your relationship, being forced to date the youngest of his three brothers… Falling in love with a wine and then realizing you got the last of your favorite vintage is not often pretty.
With the Mulderbosch, I fell in love with the 2003. It was thick, earthy, chocolate-driven wine stew. Now, suddenly the distributor is shipping the 2005, and I’m supposed to drink up its juicy red currants and roasted green bell pepper flavors AND pay more?!
Well, if I’m having food with it, I will. The lighter consistency of the wine went perfectly with white meat (seared pork chops stuffed with red onions and minced garlic… and a side of butternut squash and peas in a fennel and clove butter). The Petit Verdot and Malbec in this classic full Bordeaux blend added a bit of shoe polish and rotten cherry. I kind of like it.
It’s not the same wine it was in the 2003 vintage though. Wine grows and ages, and every year it’s different… so WHEN YOU FIND SOMETHING YOU LIKE… you should BUY A BUNCH OF IT! I wish I had done that with the 2003 of this great South African wine even though the 2005 is pretty freaking fantastic, itself.
Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Reviews | No Comments
