Every year, a bunch of my college friends get together over Labor Day weekend as a sort of reunion, catch up, opportunity to play board games, RPGs, etc, etc. The first year of the pandemic, I offered to lead a virtual wine tasting as part of the festivities, since we could not get together in person, and, somehow, I’ve now done one of these every year since (in person after covid!). Since I am incapable of just simply picking some wines to taste, I must (1) have a theme and (2) have food parings/snackies.
This year, I decided to focus on Merlot wines - I love Merlot, but it’s gotten a bad rap from the movie Sideways (which is an otherwise excellent movie). Here’s the less than one minute scene that tanked Merlot sales in the Central Coast/Southern California for years (it’s best to start at the 20 second point):
Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine varietal that is used as both a blending grape and for single varietal wines. Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Merlot is one of the primary grapes used in Bordeaux wines, and it is the most widely planted grape in the Bordeaux wine regions in France (as well as many other regions around the world). [sourced from wikipedia]
Merlot is a great, bold red wine that is not as in your face as Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc, which makes for both great blending AND for a single varietal wine for people who prefer a “softer” red wine. I’ve found that it’s also generally much more affordable than similar quality wines of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc varietals. If I’m not familiar with the Cabs on a menu and I’m looking for something bold, I’ll often order one of the Merlots as I have a higher success rate with them!
To show off Merlot’s versatility, I chose two >90% Merlot wines and two Bordeaux blends that were majority Merlot, but also included either Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc. Since we were traveling a bunch this summer, and I couldn’t acquire the wines in advance, I picked wines I could reasonably source near Hartford, Connecticut where the festivities were located this year (see end of post for the tasting list) and paired them with Manchego cheese (always a go to with red wines) and Gouda (not aged, since Merlot is a little softer than my fave Cabs), as well as water crackers and red grapes.
The venue, which always helps improve the wine tasting experience, was our friend Darren’s deck, on the lovely Saturday afternoon.
Since the discussion primarily consisted of which one of the wines was the best, I think any Merlot doubters were suitably schooled!
Wines Tasted (in order):
2021 Duckhorn Decoy Merlot (100% Merlot, Napa)
2021 Markham Merlot (91% Merlot, the rest Cab Sauvignon and Malbec, Napa)
2016 Esprit de Pavie (70% Merlot/30% Cab Franc, Bordeaux)
2018 Chateau Selve Graves (60% Merlot/40% Cab Sauv, Bordeaux)
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