Vintner's Club Merlot Tasting

Monday, February 11, 2008

Vintner’s Club
http://vintnersclub.org/

Tasting #1470:
Premium California Merlots & the wines of Pomerol, St. Emilion, and Blaye

Blackbird Vineyards, Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley $87
Byington Winery, Messina Vineyard, Paso Robles $38.06
Chappellet Winery, Pritchard Hill, Napa Valley $34.80
Charles Creek Vineyard, Hyde Vineyard, Napa Valley – Carneros $34.80
Chateau Berthenon, Cuvee Chloe, Premieres Cotes de Blaye N/A
Chateau Berliquet, St. Emilion Grand Cru $48.94
Chateau Petit Village, Pomerol $65.25
Gargiulo Vineyards, Money Road Ranch, Oakville, Napa Valley $39.15
Grgich Hills Cellar, Rutherford, Napa Valley $43.50
Miner Family Vineyards, Stagecoach Vineyard, Napa Valley $43.50
Rosenthal – The Malibu Estate, The Devon Vineyard, Malibu Newton Canyon $28.28
The Nth Degree, Karl Wente, Livermore Valley $54.38

Our big winner of the night was the Miner Family Merlot. It was an especially interesting because Lalita told us that it was a last minute add on. Once available, I will try to post the exact points every wine received. Unfortunately, I do not have the vintages either. I think most were '04 & '05. You can also periodically check The Vintner’s Club website. They should eventually update all the information on their website or feel free to email them. There is a link above.

With this tasting they posted 11 of the 12 wines that were going to be tasted before the tasting date. During the actual tasting, you do not know which wine is in each glass so it was a partial blind tasting. All 12 glasses are arranged in a diamond for each taster at each table (see picture below). After 40 minutes of rating each wine and ballots turned in, the group then comes together and discusses the wines. Each person was to pick a wine that stood out most to them and then after, everyone was then to comment on each persons chosen wine. Another interesting thing was that the wine that each of us selected did not have to be our favorite wine. It could be one that was our least favorite or that just stood out for some particular reason. Maybe there was one that appeared very herbal, earthy or even particularly sweet and fruity, regardless as long as it had a distinctive quality made it a great candidate for discussion. After this great discussion, the entire tasting group is then told which wines were which and what their total group scores were. I will mention that most of the French Merlots were not nearly favored as much as the California Merlots. I thought about why this could be and there were a few ideas that came to mind. For one, it simply could be that most people in the group are used to tasting California Merlots and have a palate more for that style. I also considered that some of the French Merlots that were made to sample were not of the best quality (maybe not the best examples) of French Merlot based wines. From experience, I can definitely say that the Merlot based wines we tried while in St. Emilion would by far blow any of these 12 wines we tasted out of their glasses.

Much thanks, to the Vintner’s Club for allowing us to film this exciting and educational Merlot tasting.

-Marisol Ramirez