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EP 874 Head to Head Merlot Blind Tasting

Gary Vaynerchuk continues the blind tasting theme and tries out two Merlots with some interesting results.

Wines tasted in this episode:

2006 Cakebread MerlotNapa Merlot
2006 Stags Leap W.c. MerlotNapa Merlot

Links mentioned in todays episode.


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luca bercelli

89/100

Lines of the day – ‘You got to give a guy credit, Mott, am I doing some good stuff here or what’

‘this is about the worst $100 we’ve put on the show in a while’

Crap wines, good show. Glad that GV panned the Cakebread blind, a wine he’s always referring to as not one of his favourites

Tags: merlot, napa, red, review, wine, wines

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  • Anonymous

    would you have it again? I probably would. makes me think gary should do another $10ish flight of wine.

  • Gary.. little disappointed there was no zoomy zoom on the brown bags.. i enjoy your cheeky grin every time.

    QOTD: I had the Sumac Ridge 2006 Black Sage Merlot, it was pretty tasty, easy enough to drink by itself, lots of fruit, rounded mouth feel, complex enough for my palate. well worth the $20

  • stephenjohnbryde

    i had a freaking awesome Hester Creek (okangan, bc, canada) Merlot.
    I'm feeling you with the monday thing, it's a long one so far, i would love to be tasting wine's at work today though.
    Question
    do you drink coffee Gary ?! or do you have just have wine monday morning ?!

  • QOTD: Lenz 2002 Estate Merlot… actually quite excellent, and a great value at $23 (or cheaper) IMO.

  • NY Pete

    last merlot we drank …
    2005 Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley
    it was last week and NO notes were taken but … I remember that it did bring a little thunder.

  • rwino

    QOTD:2006 Havens Reserve, I gave it 91 points: Decanted 6 hours, very old world Merlot. Rich with sour cherry's, spice & cedar with hints of tobacco and some dark fruit. Would never guess from California. Will improve with some cellar time, has great structure, mid palate and mouth feel. Firm tannins on the long finish. Really liked!

    Best Cali merlot was a Hanna from the early 1990's, gave it a 93

  • amsgpwarrior

    Savor that Haven's because you'll never see it again since the winery got shut down and had to liquidate all their assets.

  • NeilMc

    Last Merlot: Hartwell 2007 Merlot SLD. Needed to open. Good fruit. Sure there was some oak. Dark Fuirt, cherries, casis, hint of cocoa powder, decent acidity with hints of bitter sweet chocolate.

  • Latour90

    I always got a kick how he dissed Merlot on Sideways but his favorite wine was Cheval Blanc…. a merlot.

  • johnfarrin

    QOTD: 2006 Haven's Napa Valley Merlot
    John Farrin 1-21-10: If any of you want to understand the difference of that next level of wines, I suggest that you find a way to get some of this. It is a legitimate $20.00/ bottle of wine at $6.99 and a perfect wine for me to convince you doubters about giving wine time to breathe. If you take a sip of this wine when you first open it and then wait for 3 hours to drink anymore of it you won't believe the transformation. It remains good the second day. I can't tell you how it is on the third day as no bottle has lasted that long 🙂
    This is REAL wine.
    Drink from 2010 to 2015
    John Farrin 6-10-10: In the last six months this wine has transformed in the bottle to a pop ?n pour. If any of you want to take a nostalga tour of Napa in the 70?s & 80?s when wine was much less alcoholic and way less extracted this is the wine for you. This is in my top ten value wines of all time.

  • Anonymous

    that’s the price we pay for a top 5 comment

  • Randall

    QOTD: I don't drink too much Merlot (much more if you count the blends), but I think it was probably a Toasted Head at a B-B-Q… casual day, vino was good for what it was intended to do…

  • Marianne

    QOTD: Last Merlot we drank was 2005 Swanson Vineyards Oakville Napa Valley, tried at a tasting, bought a bottle and drank it, and bought another bottle at a local restaurant. Was delicious with blackened salmon.

    Gary, how about a show on Cab Francs, and Virginia, New York, Michigan and Ohio wines?

  • Randall

    p.s. STILL lovin' the Brown Bags!! 🙂

  • Good blind, love merlot when its good, but they seem to be few and far between for my palate.

    QOTD: 2006 Di Lenardo Friuli Merlot Just Me Di Lenardo (Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli)

    Blind OLD WORLD GRAB BAG – Dino Restaurant (Washington, DC): Dark red to black in color. Nose of blackberry, black plum, smoke, graphite. Palate of black fruits, graphite, and some decent complexity going on and there was noticeable tannins. Was a big wine, would have never guessed Merlot or Italy either.

  • laurieinvt

    QOTD: I can only remember that the Merlots that I've liked have been from Washington state. Without notes, I couldn't do a proper review. (Cue theme song- 'If I Only Had a Brain') 😉

  • Anonymous

    I think he forgot to zoomy zoom during another episode too. Too bad – Mott is one of the world’s few cameramen who can make a brown bag compelling.

  • Jag

    QOTD: Last Merlot, I think, was an M de Plain Point '05 (80% merlot). Lots of ceder and cherry; most unusual. I enjoyed it (Marion did not). Nice and full, soft tannins; quite drinkable. Very blackberry on the nose.

  • beardedmystery

    QOTD: 1995 Beringer Bancroft ranch had it about 6 months ago. I really enjoyed the wine. I think Merlot has great value. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a bottle of 2008 Leonetti Merlot and I can't wait to have it. I'm really looking for a perfect food match to pair it up with. Any suggestions?

  • guymandude

    ….see this is why I don't drink merlot…

    There, someone said it.

  • Winedrink

    Merlot – easily grown to flood the market with ordinary (at best) wine, which was then maligned and unfashionable. Provenance is worth buying (Rinaldi of Duckhorn fame at the helm), Pahlmeyer, Shafer, & Lewis also delicious and yikes for the price!

  • sam1984

    QOTD: Northstar merlot. Columbia valley I think. 75% merlot, 20% cab sauv, splashes of cab franc and petit verdot. unbelievably silky smooth. bright cedar note softens quickly to wood chips, suggestions of spice besides but all of this the overture to drinking all the fruits the forest has in stock in fifty glorious tiny sips. All fresh fruit, like walking around a farmers market in summertime with two stained hands and all the vendors are mad at you. Strawberry and huckleberry and blueberry and that yes please I'll have another.

  • plcb

    QOTD: O O O O O OMG big names with big prices in the blind tasting. I can't seem to recall my last merlot. One I had this year at a tasting was fruity and easy to drink and was 9.99, Ray's Station Merlot. Also this year I had a Chilean Tamaya Merlot. I think it was older than it should have been drunk and it was meh. Oh and I must have opened at least one of my value 2005 Bordeaux wines this year and they were quite pleasant and easy to drink.

  • DAveAll

    good show. glad you called it as it is.

  • Alexandre-CF

    light wines don't boder me so much, they have their time and place like every wine.
    Merlot can be really great but some times can be so much desappointing.

    QOTD: Veramonte merlot, kinda nice

  • A dumb Rhein king

    Sideways == Upside down (pouring into drain)

    QOTD: I think the last one I had was the Coppola Merlot. I'm assuming the 2008 vintage. It was pretty simple, if I remember right, cloves, cherry, and graphite dominated the palate with some heat on the back end. I would give it an 85.

  • Brunellofello

    Hey Gary, you got to hand it to KMurph, she showed that pedigree means little when it comes to cali merlot. I agree that that was a pathetic $100 lineup. QOTD: Duckhorn and Pride are the only napa merlots as far as I am concerned.

  • MK

    Murphy Goode Alexander Valley '05. This was a while ago but it was memorable for 2 reasons: It had surprising balance (powerful fruit and vanilla, equalled by its pleasurable transitions) and was a tremendous value. MG bottles some fun juice.

  • Jaflaw

    QOTD 2002 Robert Mondavi Napa Merlot: Tons of cocoa on the nose. Full bodied. Really good fruit. Tastes like a mouthfull of chocolate covered bing cherries. I ordered more the next day. There is still a lot of mediocre merlot out there, but when you get a great one, it is worth the wait. Newton unfiltered and Ravenswood Sangiacomo, and Paradigm are favorites.

  • corkscrew

    Just started drinking Merlot again this year, missed it..Cakebread is over rated and over priced. QOTD-2005 Swanson is really good. http://www.winelx.com

  • Well Gary Vee, we drink Merlot all the time, that mantra that you speak about seems to only have affected the US market as it's alive and well elsewhere ( here at least, it's appreciated. )

    QOTD: the last Merlot we had was a Gaetano D'Aquino Merlot Del Veneto, bought at Costco, and it was brilliantly fruity, aromatic and very palatable, and not too tannic which is a welcomed thing. details here: http://www.daquino.com/product_info.php?cPath=3…

  • srdonjulio

    qotd: 2006 Northstar- great fruit, with nice transition to the mid palate and silky finish. Not heavily oaked but enough to let you know it's there. Kind of a typical Washington state Merlot.

  • Just Jack

    I liked it even though the wines were a little lacking. There were a couple of times it almost looked like GV might have been a bit tipsy. I know he probably wasn't but it got me to thinking that I would love to see a show where Gary was a little sideways. I think he could pull it off well and it would be a treat IMO. This would be a lower priority, of course, than getting Sasha back on the show (See link below)

    QOTD: I got the 05 Chateau Arnauton Fronsac on a WL free shipping deal several weeks back. Had the opportunity to kill it on Friday. To me it was a challenging wine. The tannins were really bold and quite bitter. I could get hints of good stuff lingering there behind the solid wall of dryness. There is definitely lots of blackberry there. A little leather combined with some vegetal minerality (Think salt on broccoli). In the end it was made a little more approachable because we were eating steak with the wine, but I'm still not a strong enough man to fight those tannins. If you have the patience give it another 3 years, but I suspect it will never fully integrate. Call it an 87.

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Sasha-Back-On…

  • Imueller

    Qotd- Gnarly head merlot 2008 was unexpectedly good! It had loads of strawberry jam… pretty much only strawberry jam which i am a big fan of. 87pts but for 8 bucks!

  • Amentes

    QOTD: Darioush 1995. a truly incredibble wine. All I can say is unique. BTW, Gary, if you would like to taste a 1943 ( yes 1943) Chateau D'quem email me. I'm openning it next year. And yes, I know where this wine has been since 1950 and its only down an inch.

  • Brown bags are not showing well…

    QOTD: How about Merlot dominant wine??? If that's the case, DeLille Cellars D2.

  • David M Roberts

    QOTD: 2006 Penley Estate “Gryphon” Merlot. For the price, fairly robust with some floral elements mixing with the fruit. Balanced and even a bit spicy.

    I have grown to like Merlot – it will always be the “Baby Cab,” but as such, it is usually more understated and velvety than its brawny big brother.

  • QOTD: I check cellartracker and turns out I have not had a Merlot in over 18 months. WOW. I fell the need to open the bottle of '05 Flora Springs I have.

  • WineWoman

    QOTD: I think it was Old World M de Plain Point, primarily Merlot. Dark fruit, cedar box, soft, medium-bodied. Had it with steak and later on cheese. Good pairing. I liked it, but wouldn't go out of my way to buy it again unless it was at a huge discount. I like Washington State Merlots, Reininger and bought an inexpensive on the other day, but have only had it's Cabernet counterpart. It's called 14 Hands–the Cab is excellent. Will probably pop the Merlot one night this week. Also have a couple of bottles of Twomey but haven't had them yet. Haven't been drinking a lot of Merlot, starting to come back to it.

  • JoeD.

    Last 100% Merlot: 2006 Azienda Agricola Meroi (Davino Meroi) Colli Orientali del Friuli Merlot Ros di Buri

    Tasting Notes: An elegant style Merlot, produced in Italy's northern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (mostly known for it's whites) exhibits pretty aromas of blackberry, crushed flowers, licorice, tar and mineral. Full-bodied, with sharp chewy tannins and a long finish. Concentrated, but needs to come together in the bottle. Best from 2011-2017 – JD90

  • ironmics

    Last Merlot I had was a 2008 from I believe somewhere down in southern Oregon. I usually taste through all of our wine every month while doing labs. It's in tank right now, and hopefully will be bottled soon. Rather new world, but not very in your face. The nose is bubblegum, red fruit, and a little bell pepper. Has a great mouth feel and finish, probably the most fun red that we have around. Drinks really nicely at our cellar temp, which I think is about 13-15C right now. Just has great fruit with a good amount of complexity, but doesn't get cloying like most new world stuff does for me. Sadly it might never get bottled and we'd have to bulk it out.

  • cellarrat5

    Big names big disappointment. I was not surprised at all when you revealed those, have had both of them and unfortunately agreed with you.

    QOTD: Duckhorn 2007 Merlot. Did not take notes but I remember it being decent. Perhaps it was because they pulled out all the stops for a friend of mine and I when we went there last time. We had at least 25 empty glasses in front of us when we left, the boss must have been gone or something because they broke out the library stuff for us. Amazing service, even broke out a mystery wine and made me guess where it was from!!

  • The last Merlot we tasted was a 2007 Canoe Ridge – Horse Heaven Hills. Heavy alcohol nose, it tasted uniquely like an orange creamcicle dipped in fruit coctail. We loved it! Especially since it was a members tasting at Chatteau Ste. Michelle Winery. It's like a castle of grapes.

  • dz

    A brand that never lets me down is Shafer when I see it on a winelist. My wife and I compared an 06 and 07 375ml merlot while out and surprisingly prefered the 06. The 06 had a little bite to it that gave it character while the 07 seemed much smoother but not as interesting. They both are recommended as good values compared to cabs. in same price range.

  • drt999

    QOTD — 2008 Château Julien Merlot, rated it an 87 — read the review on cork'd!

  • Disappointing scores still educate, love the brown bags. KMurph (sp?) was trying to throw you a curve!

    QOTD: I've been down on Medrlot as eellike but recently had L'ecole 41. I don't have any tasting notes but I remember starting to turn over a new leaf when I had it.

  • I by no means am an educated wine drinker. The last Merlot I had was the 2006 Cakebread. I would say it was one of the worst Merlot I have had in a very long time. Not knowing what to bring to a dinner I went with a label I knew. It taste like ass. I don't know what ass scores like in wine but I would suspect less than 84. I think you could have pulled the plug on this one. I am new to the show and enjoy it very much. STOP doing the short episodes. Brown bag 4 make it a 15 minute episode.

  • SteveW

    QOTD: Columbia Crest H3 2007 – Great wine for the price ~ $12

  • unWineD_TN

    Markham Merlot, Palace Cafe'; New Orleans, LA. Seldom to never drink Merlot.

  • As someone said, quite the “educational” show with the big boys not showing too well. Could it be that CA Merlot was bad in '06? I don't know.

    QOTD: Geez, hard to remember but the one that comes to mind is the Walter Clore Merlot from Columbia Crest. I thought it was quite a delish Merlot.

    Cheers!

    P.S. Go Germany!

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