Merlot Wine Tasting "I get no respect" at Wine Watch Wine Cave

Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot.

Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any fu*&^% Merlot!

Merlot is the second most planted grape varietal on the planet earth, although its popularity has helped give this outstanding varietal an identity crisis.

The name Merlot is thought to be a diminutive of merle, the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the color of the grape. Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.

When done right Merlot is one of the greatest wines on the planet.  When it is done wrong it is one of the least enjoyable of all wines.  After the boom of the late 1990’s which was sparked by the nations’ most popular news programs 60 minutes expose called “the French Paradox” where they discovered that the consumption of wine was linked to superior heath in people from France.  The U.S. started drinking more wine and Merlot was the bell of the ball so wineries planted this finicky varietal all over the state of California and beyond to quench the demand for this healthy elixir.  

Little did they know that there are only a few places on earth that can make exceptional Merlot.  So it may have been Merlot’s good fortune that Miles in the movie “Sideways” slowed the popularity of this varietal and stopped wineries from planting this varietal in all the wrong places.

Tonight we will experience the best wine regions that represent this varietal along with a few outsiders that will surprise even the most astute Merlot lovers.  This is a walk around tasting in the Wine Cave and is limited to 50 tasters.  The fee for this event is $45 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Merlot Tasting "I get no respect" at Wine Watch Wine Cave
Saturday, September 7th
7:30 PM

Southern Glazers

Andrew Will Merlot Columbia Valley 2016
Price: $39.75       Sale $34.98

Lacroix Martillac (Cm) Pessac Leognan Rouge 2011
Price: $33.00       Sale $29.04

Chateau La Fleur Des Rouzes Pomerol 2015
Price: $29.25       Sale $25.74

Chateau Les Moines (Cm) St Emilion Grand Cru 2012
Price: $21.75       Sale $19.14

Trig Point Merlot Diamond Dust Vineyard Alexander Valley 2017
Price: $20.25       Sale $17.82

Twenty One Wines

2016 Bonny Doon I Am Not Drinking Any $%&*#! Merlot
Price: $15.75       Sale $13.86         

Bookwalter Merlot Columbia Valley
Price: $27.50       Sale $24.20         

Scarbolo Merlot Fruili 2016 
Price: $19.75       Sale $17.38                         

Wilder & Wilder Merlot Barossa Valley  2017t
Price: $18.75       Sale $16.50         

Camp merlot Sonoma 2016
Price: $19.75       Sale $17.38         

Seuil de Mazeyres Pomerol 2014
Price: $33.75       Sale $29.70

Relais de la Dominique St. Emilion Grand Cru 2014
Price: $33.75       Sale $29.70         

Chateau Tauzinat L’Hermitage St. Emilion Grand Cru 2012 
Price: $30.00       Sale $26.40         

Clos Magne Figeac St. Emilion 2016
Price: $23.50       Sale $20.68         

Breakthru

Villa Russiz Merlot Classico Collio DOC
Price: $26.25       Sale $23.10

Seven Hills Merlot Walla Walla
Price: $21.00       Sale $18.48

Provenance Merlot Napa Valley
Price: $24.75       Sale $21.78

Pride Mountain Merlot Napa Valley
Price: $69.75       Sale $61.38

Chateau des Laurets Baron St Emilion
Price: $88.50       Sale $77.88

Chateau Boutisse Grand Cru St Emilion
Price: $39.75       Sale $34.98

Republic National

2014 Steele Stymie Merlot Lake County
Price: $39.75       Sale $34.98         

2015 Twomey Merlot Napa
Price: $67.50       Sale $59.40

2016 Montes Alpha Merlot Colchagua valley
Price: $20.25       Sale $17.82         

2016 Tamarack Cellars Columbia Valley
Price: $24.75       Sale $21.78         

2012 Chateau Laroque Grand Cru St. Emilion
Price: $55.50       Sale $48.84         

Menu

 Pulled Pork Spring Rolls with Raspberry Plum Dipping Sauce

Tuna and Wild Mushroom Mini Tacos with Lavender Aioli

Beef Sliders with Cheddar Cheese and All-American Sauce

Pizza:
Crispy Prosciutto, Bermuda Onion, Sundried Tomato and Raspberry Balsamic Drizzle with Fresh Basil

This is a walk around tasting and is limited to 50 tasters, the fee for this tasting is $45 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

Origins of Merlot:

In the late 1990s, researchers at University of California, Davis showed that Merlot is an offspring of Cabernet Franc and is a half-sibling of Carménère, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. The identity of the second parent of Merlot wouldn't be discovered till the late 2000s when an obscure and unnamed variety, first sampled in 1996 from vines growing in an abandoned vineyard in Saint-Suliac in Brittany, was shown by DNA analysis to be the mother of Merlot.

This grape, later discovered in front of houses as a decorative vine in the villages of Figers, Mainxe, Saint-Savinien and Tanzac in the Poitou-Charentes was colloquially known as Madeleina or Raisin de La Madeleine due to its propensity to be fully ripe and ready for harvest around the July 22nd feast day of Mary Magdalene. As the connection to Merlot became known, the grape was formally registered under the name Magdeleine Noire des Charentes. Through its relationship with Magdeleine Noire des Charentes Merlot is related to the Southwest France wine grape Abouriou, though the exact nature of that relationship (with Abouriou potentially being either a parent of Magdeleine Noire or an offspring) is not yet known.

Grape breeders have used Merlot crossed with other grapes to create several new varieties including Carmine (an Olmo grape made by crossing a Carignan x Cabernet Sauvignon cross with Merlot), Ederena (with Abouriou), Evmolpia (with Mavrud), Fertilia (with Raboso Veronese), Mamaia (a Romanian wine grape made by crossing a Muscat Ottonel x Babeasca negra cross with Merlot), Nigra (with Barbera), Prodest (with Barbera) and Rebo (with Teroldego).

Over the years, Merlot has spawned on color mutation that is used commercially, a pink-skinned variety known as Merlot gris. However, unlike the relationship between Grenache noir and Grenache blanc or Pinot noir and Pinot blanc, the variety known as Merlot blanc is not a color mutation but rather an offspring variety of Merlot crossing with Folle blanche.