Wine Dude Online

2006 Napa Cellars Merlot
I found this wine at our local wine shop while my wife and I were out grabbing lunch one afternoon. Seeing that it was mid-afternoon, we didn’t want to go with our typical “big” Cabernet; we also wanted to find something at a more reasonable price.

The Napa Cellars Merlot is a blend of 93% Merlot, 5% Syrah, and 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. In the glass, the wine has a nice dark ruby color to it with just a hint of transparency to it. On the nose are nice aromas of plum, cherries and spice. The palate has dark fruits, chocolate and the spice is still present. This merlot has nice even tannins and a medium finish.
I usually am not a merlot fan as I have found that most merlots are too “soft” for my liking. This merlot, however, is different. I really enjoyed that hint of spice which was present on the nose and palate. The other thing that I liked about this wine was that even though it comes in at 14.7 % ABV, you really don’t notice the higher alcohol content. It has a bigger mouth feel, which I would attribute to the addition of the Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Would I buy/drink this wine again?
So far, I have enjoyed the other wines that I have had from Napa Cellars and think at $16, this would also be a nice addition to your cellar.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 corks.

I wonder why there is still some misunderstanding about the wonderful red wine grape Merlot. I think that this worldly and elegant wine was so bashed by Paul Giamatti that it might take a generation for Merlot to get “up to speed” and grab its rightful place, once again, in winedom.

Here is what we know about wine made from Merlot:

First, let me give you a very brief history of red and white wine production in California. Many of the “big oak” Cabernet Sauvignon produced in California in the late 1960s until the middle 1980s suffered from being way overdone and the wine production message in the state was “more is better” in just about all of the winemaking during these 25 years.

Oak, skin contact and pressing was dominant in the minds and cellars of many winemakers at that time. Even the Chardonnays were suffering from over extraction and hideous amounts of oak. It got so bad in the middle 1970s that I remember a “blind” tasting of white wine (all of which turned out to be Chardonnay) where none of the judges could tell what the wines were because the heavy-handed use of oak in the production masked the varietal!

Read the rest of the article at the Ashland Daily Tidings

By Lorn Razzano