2008 Black Ridge Vintner’s Reserve Merlot – $9

The Black Ridge Cellars Vintner’s Reserve Merlot, is one of those wines you don’t expect much from. The folks who make the wine don’t bother to mention much about the wine on their website. Where the grapes are grown, how the wine was made, the simple things are not mentioned, probably because those details are not all that interesting. There is nothing to make the Black Ridge Merlot stand out, except the price is right and it tastes great. For an everyday wine, that can be enough.

This Merlot has the smell of raspberries and herbs. Full of fruit and medium-bodied with a nice soft finish. Grilled meats – especially BBQ chicken – would be a perfect match.

2006 Domain Menada Tcherga – $10

This is a first for me, a wine from the Thracian Valley Region of Bulgaria. A red blend of 70%Merlot and 30% Rubin (a cross of Syrah and Nebbiolo). The name Tcherga refers to the folk craft rugs made in that region (check out the label to see what those rugs look like). The wine is aged for 8 months in French and Bulgarian oak.

The color is crystal clear see thru burgundy red. The nose is strawberries, blueberry and spice. Nice mouth feel. The flavor is very bright fresh fruit, gobs of vanilla, very light tannins, the oak is lightly evident in the back of your mouth.The finish fades a bit too soon, but is a very nice combination of chocolate and vanilla. A very tasty wine.

I was expecting Bulgarian wine to be too sweet and too simple, but  I was wrong. This is a good tasting new world style wine. Put Bulgaria on the wine world map, the Tcherga is a well made wine.

2001 Arboleda Merlot – $15

Talk about an end of the bin special, this is a Chilean Merlot from the Colchagua Valley that has nine years of bottle age. Now most wines in the under $20 category are not made to be cellared for too long, but then again almost all red wines could benefit from a couple of years of age, so how much is too much? This particular Merlot is a joint venture between Robert Mondavi and Vina Caliterra of Chile, it has a bit of Cabernet Sauvignon added along with a splash of Carmenere to give the Merlot some body and structure. It has been aged in oak barrels, so there is a good chance this wine is still improving, rather than on the way down. The color is a glistening see thru burgundy. The nose is elegant, spice drops, dark stewed fruit, beef gravy and a dusty flower garden scent. The mouth feel is light upfront with tannins grabbing at the back of your mouth. Not much fruit is evident, I had the bottle open for three hours before I tasted it and I am using my Taste of Purple glass that helps bring air into the wine, so the wine shouldn’t be “tight”. The vanilla from the oak is there, but it is not over powering. There are is prune or fig flavors, but the main component is the vanilla from the oak. I can’t come to any conclusions about cellaring wine because 1) I don’t know under what conditions this was stored and 2) I don’t know what it tasted like when it was young. But, it is an out of balance wine, still drinkable but not all that enjoyable.

2005 Lapis Luna Merlot – $9

Lapis Luna loosely translated means “blue moon”.  What is a blue moon?  A blue moon is when two full moon’s occur in the same month.  There are 41 blue moon’s each century.  The next blue moon will occur in December on the 2nd and the 29th.

Alright, enough of the astronomy lesson and on to the wine!

Once in a blue moon (pun intended), I get to taste a Merlot that is under $10 that is delicious.  Lapis Luna Merlot is just that.  It starts with a nose of black currant.  On the palate you get black cherry and pine (yes, pine).  It’s like Christmas in your mouth!  It has a wonderful cherry, strawberry and pine finish that lasts for 20 seconds.  It’s amazing for $8.99.  Buy this one by the case, it’s a rare find!  I tasted it twice because I couldn’t believe it either.  Let it breath for 30 minutes and drink it with lamb, salmon, pizza or pasta.

2006 Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon – $16

I am a fan of the wines made by Charles Smith Wines.  He is doing some really cool things with wine at a affordable price. This Cab is sourced from a vineyard in Columbia Valley, Washington. 85% Cabernet, 10% Malbec and 5% Cab Franc, kind of low alcohol for a Cab, only 13.5 %.

Now this is a cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon, if you are going to measure this against a Napa or Sonoma Cab you are going to be taken aback. Not oaky and with smooth tannins, tastes of black and blueberries and chocolate covered cherries. Tastes smooth, not thick, has a nice finish that is nuanced. Charles Smith says that this is not a Bordeaux wine this is a Washington wine, which I take to mean he is turning the terroir thing around on the French.

This is a Cab that would appeal to Barossa Valley Shiraz lovers. Very fruit forward, but still has some complexity. Untwist the screw-top and your ready to go.

2009 Cahors Malbec Tasting “BLACK WINE”

At the latest tasting, we sampled not white wine, not red wine, but BLACK WINE! The “Black wine of Lot” as it’s known, or wines from the Cahors region in France. Here, they make ROBUST wines using mostly Malbec, with a little Tannat or Merlot thrown in to soften things up. If you like a deep intense color to your wine, you are going to love Cahors Malbecs. In the past these wine were on the “wild and wooly” side, but these days these wines are mildly oaked, have well integrated tannins and are very fruit forward, especially in the under $25 range.

Up until a couple of months ago, France didn’t allow the winemakers to put the grape varietal on the front of the label, only the region and/or the individual estate from where the wine was produced. So if you wanted a Malbec you had to know that Cahors was the region to look for, well needless to say France lost market share to every other Malbec producing region (Argentina for one).  The French finally  changed their laws governing the labeling of their wines and can now put the grape on the front label (just like the rest of the world’s winemakers). And guess what, French Malbec is affordable and tastes great.

My faves were the 100% Malbecs, but equally as good were the ones using a little Merlot to smooth things out a bit. The Australian Shiraz has pulled ahead of French Syrah, without much of a fight from the French, but France is fighting back on Malbec. There were some excellent wines available in the  $12 to $15 range.

So when drinking Cahors wine, bring a toothbrush, cuz this stuff had everyone smiling the smile of happy black teeth.

2006 Craggy Range Te Kahu

A Bordeaux blend, Merlot 58%, Cabernet Sauvignon 22%, Cabernet Franc 15% and Malbec 5%, from Craggy Range Vineyards, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. All the grapes were sourced from a single vineyard (Gimblett Gravels Vineyard).

I picked up this wine for $14.99, but on checking prices on the web I saw the Te Kahu going for as much $30. This wine would have benefitted from decanting, the nose was a little tight, though I did get dark fruit with a hint of barnyard . The color is a dark ruby red, very pretty. It tasted of intense dark berries, the tannins were kept in check and while it was aged 16 months in oak,the oak was nicely balanced. This is a wine that would improve with cellaring and with it’s elegant structure, could be put down for a decade or so. Not your typical cheapwinefinder wine.

Not a pop the top and drink it down wine. But if you have the will power to lay this wine down for a few years, you will be rewarded with an excellent wine at a very nice price.

Summerfield Merlot 2006

If I had only three words to sum up this wine I’d say Easy, light, strawberry.  And really there isn’t much else to this wine.  Its nice and easy to drink and there isn’t anything in it that stands out as being something I don’t like.  Just having a wine with no negatives is a pretty good thing. Its rare that when good qualities are absent there are not bad qualities in the wine that make it undrinkable.
If you are looking for a nice regular light wine with a hint of strawberry then this might be for you.  Don’t expect to be super excited by this wine though.  Really you never should expect to much from a $6 wine though, right?

Price:  $6
Vintage: 2006
Varietal: Merlot
Cheap Wine Rating: 85

Buy it here:  At your local grocery store or wine store – or online at: Winerz.com

Tin Roof Merlot 2005

Finally a great merlot for under $10.  I was very surprised by the quality if the Tin Roof Merlot. I bought this wine at costco just because of the price and rating by the Read more