2007 Napa River Napa County Merlot

The Napa River Napa County Merlot (a Trader Joe’s exclusive) is made by Bronco Wine Company, the same folks who make Charles Shaw Wines ($2 Buck Chuck). Bronco Wines recently lost a lawsuit with the Napa Vintners Association, Bronco was using Napa in the wine brand name, but were not using Napa grapes to make the wine. So here, we have Napa in the name and Napa grapes in the bottle and the wine still sells for $4.99. Napa River Winery says they “cellared and bottled” this Merlot, that means someone else grew and fermented the wine and Napa River aged and bottled it. The wine is 2007 vintage, so it had to spend at least part of the last three years oak barrels and the alcohol content is a, low for a Napa Merlot, 12.5%.

The color is a see-thru, shiny cherry red. The nose is interesting, some cigar box, a bit of leather, blackberry, plum and smoky bacon fat, I was not expecting that from a $4.99 wine. This a nice, chewy Merlot, not fruit forward like the majority of wine in this price range. There is blackberry and raspberry, vanilla, along with a harder edge of tobacco and Christmas spice. There is a decent  berry and vanilla finish.

Well, I wasn’t expecting a 5 buck Napa Merlot is be a real Napa Merlot. I am sure there are better Napa Merlot’s out there, but the Napa River at 1/10 the price is a solid effort. Pick up a box of “No Name” steaks from the supermarket, grill them up and break open a bottle of Napa River Merlot and have yourself a nice, luxurious bargain meal.