Falling Back in Love with Merlot – Masters of Merlot Tasting

Posted on November 6,2018 By John and Linda Compisi

For about a decade now Merlot has been out of favor among the average wine drinker. Some suggest that the 2004 cult film ‘Sideways’ caused this downfall in favor of Pinot Noir, Miles’ (Paul Giamatti) favorite.

The 8 Merlots offered by Mt. Brave, Pahlmeyer, Duckhorn and Freemark Abbey (L.Compisi)

Experts in the field tell a different story. Merlot, they say, was riding a wave of popularity as the more approachable (and less expensive) Bordeaux varietal for sipping or pairing with foods that were not screaming Cabernet Sauvignon. This wide popularity caused many vineyards to be replanted to Merlot, even where they shouldn’t have been, to meet the demand and cash in. This, they say, resulted in a glut of bad Merlot well before the movie. In fact, perhaps all this bad Merlot was why Miles was so vehement in his rejecting ‘another g-damn Merlot’.

IMG_20181101_141652471_HDRaa Anthony Giglio (l) introduces his four panelists (L.Compisi)

Well, last week’s Masters of Merlot seminar and walk around tasting at the Culinary Institute of America’s Copia facility reignited our love affair with some very high-quality, reasonably priced, Merlot from Napa, Sonoma and other regions on the West Coast. The Seminar was moderated by well-known wine and spirits aficionado Anthony Giglio, whose moniker “WineWiseGuy” carries multiple good meanings.

IMG_20181101_142849aa They all looked great through the wine glass (L.Compisi)

The panelists were a Napa “Who’s Who” of winemakers and viticulturalists. Chris Carpenter, Winemaker, Mt. Brave and LaJota Vineyard Co.; Cleo Pahlmeyer, President of Pahlmeyer Winery; P.J. Alviso, VP of Winegrowing, Duckhorn Vineyards and Ted Edwards, Winemaker Freemark Abbey. Each of the panelists brought two outstanding Merlots for our tasting and took time to describe where the grapes originated, the harvest particulars and offered tasting notes on each.

From left: Chris Carpenter, Cleo Pahlmeyer, P.J. Alviso and Ted Edwards

All eight of the wines at the seminar where vintage 2015 and included some iconic labels like the Three Palms Vineyard Merlot from Duckhorn and the Bosché Vineyard Merlot from Freemark. Some of the eight were 100% Merlot while others contained various blends with Cabernet Sauvignon being the most consistent blending grape. Other varieties included Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. All these wines were rich and luxurious with a velvety mouth feel. In other words exquisite. The red fruit was always present and the wines were full-bodied. The seminar ended with a delightful Q&A period including questions about the 2015 vintage and the favorite Merlots the panelists enjoyed besides their own.

IMG_20181101_144619895aa The media/industry reps were intent on the presentations (L.Compisi)

The Seminar was followed by a walk-around tasting with the addition of approximately 16 other wineries including some from Sonoma County, Paso Robles and Walla Walla Washington. Favorites of those for us were Charles Krug, Trefethen Family Vineyards (both of Napa), Matanzas Creek (Sonoma County), J. Lohr (Paso Robles) and L’Ecole (Walla Walla). These wines often mirrored the quality and delicious flavor profiles of those from the seminar telling us that ‘Merlot is back’.

Matanzas Creek, Duckhorn and 18 other wineries participated in the walk around tasting (L.Compisi)

If Merlot fell out of favor with you then perhaps you will take our recent experience and jump back into the Merlot market. If you have never been a fan of Merlot, we suggest you reconsider this noble grape. Its fruit forward flavors and lower tannins, compared to Cabernet, make it perfect wine with food or by itself, especially as we enter the cooler months of Autumn and Winter.

IMG_20181105_220508_01aa No surprise here (L.Compisi)