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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.


Latest Comment:

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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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  • Just Jack

    Good review Naysen! I have had the 04 Haut-Brisson and I agree with your tasting notes almost completely (although mine are not nearly as wonderfully descriptive as yours). I did have a little bit more trouble getting over the tannic hump than you did, but you nailed the relevant characteristics dead center as far as I'm concerned.

  • Just Jack

    WELCOME in from the cold Wine Doc. I am always happy when another lurker gets off the sidelines and shares with the group.

  • Allan

    show off! 🙂

    (oops i just did it as well)

  • Cabdrinker

    QOTD – 2004 Pahlmeyer Merlot
    10/24/2009
    Give this wine a good 2 – 3 hours in the decanter for the alcohol to blow off and you will be rewarded with a very polished Merlot. Beautifully structured with layers of black cherry, espresso, anise, black tea, pencil lead and toasted oak. Gorgeous texture and mouth feel that leads to a spicy, almost bittersweet chocolate finish. One of the best Merlot's I have had in sometime. – 93 pts

  • WineTechie

    QOTD; Chateau Ste. Michelle 2006. I thought it was a very good Merlot for drinking Friday night on the porch. Good wine for beginner wine drinkers.

  • poconnor

    Napa is not the appropriate spot for Merlot. Perhaps Stags Leap coolish climate, with mild highs during season, is OK, but Merlot favors heavy iron-clay soils with good water retention (like Pomerol (e.g. Petrus) in France, and Masseto (Bolgheri) and Apalta (Colchagua) vineyards), that delay ripening, preserving fruit balance, acidity and lushness.
    California?s huge levels of solar radiation, excessively long growing seasons, with little or no rain, and predominantly lighter soils, usually cook Merlot?s fruit and burn its acidity, giving the wine a flat, one-dimensional character.

  • I thought the Duckhorn 2006 was pretty solid. Tasted the 07 recently and didn't care for it–too much oak.

  • I tasted a 2003 Ghiaie with Leone from the winery recently. Pretty solid stuff.

  • The last Merlot I had was the 2002 Mate Mantus Merlot.

    The wine had become something of a legend in my own mind and a running joke among friends. I was out of town for a few weeks over a year and half ago, and I get back in town and the place I buy a lot of my wine from told me they got in a Merlot from Italy that was awesome. I asked for a bottle and they told me they sold it all. I later became friends with the importer/distributor and he told me he couldn't even get any wine from the winery anymore. The running joke became, no matter what I opened, “It's good, but not as good as that 2002 Mantus.”

    I finally found a few bottles left in the cellar of a local restaurant and got to taste it two weeks ago.

    It's an odd wine, being Merlot from Montalcino and from the 2002 Vintage. It was a very good. Cherry leather, crushed peppercorn with a hint of raspberry and treebark. The leather started to fade with about an hour of air and started revealing a bit of a swampy character (which I'm guessing is the result of the 2002 vintage). But, the swampy character integrated nicely with the wine and added depth rather than obscenity. Hint of prune on the end. Solid stuff.

  • Pahlmeyer does make a solid Merlot I think (Probably my favorite of all of their wines). Have had the 2005 about half dozen times over the last few months.

  • alexlinsley

    So it's a Bordeaux blend, but Craggy Range's Sophia (2006) was the last Merlot I tasted. Eighty five percent Merlot with 10% Cab Franc. Really great to taste what's coming from the Gimblet Gravels and I remember the fruit being pretty damn good. You really got a feel for the greeness (not underipe) of the Cab Franc too and the whole experience evoked how the great Bordeaux right bank wines can be with such lush pure fruit. Was a shame there did not seem to be any more complexity following that fruit up. Pure but not perfect. Glad it was a tasting and I hadn't spent ~£30 on it though.

    The show has just got me thinking how little straight Merlot I drink… Going to kick that habit

  • alexlinsley

    Damn straight Jason.

  • Clarkbar27

    QOTD: Spring Valley Uriah 2004, poured at tasting ~2 months ago.

    Wine was very well built. Even after 1.5 hrs decanting it still needed more time to unravel. Great fruit, great extraction, the blending grapes helped balance the wine, some secondary flavors, but fruit was still the dominant play. Clearly a New World take on wine, but at $40 plus dollars don't know if it will woo me away from Right Bank.

    +1 for comment about Washington Merlot. Seems to bring more to the table for less than CA.
    +1 for GV comment about drinking New World wines by themselves, Old World with food.

  • Anonymous

    Nothing too memorable lately.

  • 1000000000000%

  • Larsabeinet

    just above the vid is the 90+ three pack ad- selling points really, and not wines.. so how exactly is wine library “changing the wine world”?

  • Cubatobaco (Ray)

    I agree 100%. I was mainly referring to the Regular brands (Scooter, Maitre D, etc.). The only Carnival of Love I have had was very good. I don’t know if it’s worth the money, but a great wine, nonetheless. I would like to try it again!

  • Pierazzo

    ever heard “le colombare” italian merlot from veneto? really good at a low pricepoint.

  • castello

    IIIIIIIII'mmmmmmm using the reply buttonnnnnnnnn!!

  • SCKen

    Powers Merlot out of Washington. I must admit that I am one of those wine drinkers that Gary V often refers to when he says a wine isn't his favorite, but it will appeal to many. I like fruit bombs that tend to be a little heavy on the vanilla oak. I appreciate good Pinots and CdP's and other wines that tend to go better with food, but I prefer wines that I can drink by themselves. The Powers Merlot is somewhere in the middle. It is fruit forward with a lingering vanilla oak finish, but it has a little minerality as well as a little leather and tobacco flavors to add to the complexity. Overall, a very good wine for under $15.

  • Maaannnnn. bummer of a show. Better luck next time.

  • another $100 bucks blown on the merlot grape.

  • Thomas L. Wood

    Recently had Freemark Abbey 2007 Napa Valley Merlot
    Delicious.

  • Chateau Ste Michelle Chard rocks too

  • Allan

    I need to share this;

    Right now enjoying a 2005 Syrahnosaurus Rex from Domaine Ferrer-Ribière. Exciting stuff.

    First of i got some poop action, bacon, bbq-sausage, then headin' of to pepper-town before going all salty-liqourice on my ass. . . . . . and right about now it's all hay and herbs and spices but still a liqourice funfest going on in my glass and mouth. . . . . .

    I LOVE wine that makes me think! Wine that challenges me and my mind! This i definitely not for everybody out there. . . . . . so be warned. 94 points from me (and ultimately one of the top bottles i've had this year! ! 🙂

    Cheers all fellow Vayniacs!

    YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

  • Allan

    Dude ya need ta get a linked uppa!!!! 🙂

    Mott help this poor soul!!!!

  • Bob

    Last Merlot I had and really liked was the B Legacy 2006. Big boy but with lots of subtle flavors.

  • Sjrobinson11

    The last Merlot I had was “Fat Bastard 2007” although not an expensive wine actually on the cheaper side. It has a delicate nose of cherry and plum. It is just a good wine nice finish a light to medium body nice flavors through to the end.

  • looper1313

    Awkward show. But they can't all be love fests.
    QOTD: I had that oakmonster that you gave an 84. Definitely over oaked, but the fruit is good underneath. My wife loves the oakmonster… me, not so much. But I was more generous than you, and gave it 87 points.

  • looper1313

    Comments section sucks. So many issues with live updating.

  • lawrenceleichtman

    last Merlot I had was the 2008 Whitehall Lane. Good upfront cherry fruit with cocoa and mocha in both the nose and taste. Really liked it especially since it was had in Napa.

  • looper1313

    Updated my browser, working fine now.

  • looper1313

    Been loving Italian Merlots lately, thanks for the recommendation. Will try

  • looper1313

    haha

  • looper1313

    Great science lesson, sound like my favorite meteorologist, Tom Skilling. He's the best

  • pian0_player

    Generally dont drink merlot unless it is in a Bordeaux or meritage. I was passing through Redwood city last week and went to K&L. Grabbed a 1996 La Mission Haut Brion, and a 2001 Pichon Lalande. Very excited about those wines.

  • castello

    Yah but is that your real picture?

  • mrpat56

    Last Merlot– 2006 Blackbird– tasted about 2 months ago, Very good, no tasting notes, but I think it had some bluebery, strawberry and dark fruit. This wine needs a few years befor I open another. Great wine.

  • Randall

    Awesome outlook, Russell!!

  • esj100

    I have been drinking a lot more Malbec these days but i recently enjoyed a La Campagne Merlot 2009 Vin de Pays d'Oc which had bags of fruit.

  • Randall

    Yo! Yes, I think I paid $4.99 or $5.99 for it… next up for me from their line is an ’08 Petite Sirah (the Syrah was 100% organic, this one is 76% because it has 12% each of N/O Syrah and Zin)… will let you know how it fares…

    This is JUST the sort of thing Gary is always talking about… Thunder from unexpected bottles… I had held on to that vino for a while and on a whim (because I felt it was getting old) we popped it on a weeknight. What a surprise… (BOOM!!) *thunderclap* (crackle)
    Unfortunately, I don’t know how available their ’06 Syrah is right now.

  • Randall

    It took me long enough…

  • dude, your wine tastings are amazing. i don't drink so it's a little tough for me to watch the sniffing and the sipping (brings back old memories) but your commentary is phenomenal. light alert! big and pac! oaky, not okay haha. the oak monster. i really hope that your vernacular catches on in a big way and people will stop with the same old adjectives. you add a lot to the wine world. you add a lot to the world in general, so just keep it up (like you need me to tell you that. you probably couldn't stop it if you tried haha) On that note (no pun intended) I'll see you next episode!

  • Allan

    Yes. Workin' on a much better one……. If you want it up close and personal;

    http://www.abk31.dk/dm2007.asp

    I have been playin' a bit of billards…….. ; )

  • TommyB

    QOTD: Glad you asked: last one I had was the 2007 Torres Atrium Merlot from Spain. It was ok, but at 14% abv, which didn't suit it at all. I gave it 85/100.
    BUT, a recently drank bottle of 2005 Chateau Lyonnat, Lussac St Emilion proved much more of a success at 90/100 scored. A strong right bank claret with good balence and enough complexity on the nose and palate to warrent further purchases (in my humble opinion). Seek it out!

  • jsums

    Not great showings by the wine, but this episode makes an excellent point: Napa wines are overpriced period. I'm not saying there aren't amazing wines coming out of the region, but the whole pricing structure of Napa has gotten all out of whack. I'd love to see a Washington vs. California battle with Cab & Merlot. It sure would be interesting… QOTD – My exact CT notes from the last merlot I took a formal note on 5/24/10:

    Pellegrini Vineyards Estate Merlot, North Fork of Long Island 2004. $20.

    Full ruby color with lighter rim. Pretty nose: black cherry/plum fruit, rhubarb tart, a bell pepper/mint element, and some dark chocolate. Medium/lighter body on the palate: more black cherry and red plum with elements of fresh mint, rhubarb, cocoa powder, and some graphite. Lively acidity. Moderate refined tannins showing fine integration. Moderate length. Lingering cocoa and dusty graphite. Balanced, elegant, well made. 88 points.

  • KEL

    06 Flying Fish. From Washingon State. By Click imports. Was not 100%. Has a little bit of everything in it. Gave it some structure. Nice fruit, and perfect body for a merlot. Not too light and not to heavy.

  • Which of the Blackbird wines?
    Had the 2006 Illumination from them. Really dug it. My friends have been mixed on it though.

  • Wil Frykman

    QOTD: I recently had the opportunity to try the 2005 Amuse Bouche at a local wine tasting. Wow, new-world AMAZING! I would have thought it was a Cabernet Sauvignon if I tasted it blind.

  • Hoze

    2006 Twombey Merlot. Enjoyed it while on the River Walk in San Antonio and it was exquisite. Not the oak monster and great finish.
    Go Cowboys

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