Randall Harris Merlot

August 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Merlot, Red Wines, Washington State Wine

Let me actually start this review with a disclaimer. There’s a lot of discussion among wine reviewers/wine bloggers about potential “conflict of interest” related to their reviews. The conflict scenario is typically an instance when a review is done for a wine and the reviewer has received something of value from the producer of the [...]

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15 Good Merlots Under $15

May 26th, 2009 | 4 Comments | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Merlot, Red Wines

Over the past several weeks I’ve posted a number of reviews for Merlot. I feel sorry for Merlot. It’s gotten an undeserved reputation as a boring wine. This is mostly due to the movie Sideways, and American’s tendency to foolishly be influenced by anything they see on screen. Let me set the record straight, Merlot [...]

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Cono Sur Visión Merlot – More Great Wine from Chile

May 19th, 2009 | 1 Comment | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Chilean Wine, Merlot, Red Wines

I logged on tonight planning to post a summary of all the Merlot reviews I’ve done recently, in order to show how they all stack up to each other and help you pick the best bargains. When I pulled up my tasting notes database I saw that I had neglected to post a review of [...]

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Blackstone Merlot

May 18th, 2009 | 2 Comments | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Californian Wine, Merlot, Red Wines

Today it’s nothing fancy. Just a quick and dirty review. This Merlot is one of the best sellers at one of my favorite wine shops. It’s a great price, and so I wanted to see what made this so popular. To be honest, that still seems to be a mystery to me. I would call [...]

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FAT bastard Merlot – Full and Approachable

May 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in French Wine, Merlot, Red Wines

When I see a wine named “Fat Bastard” I don’t know what to expect. My first impression is that wine is all about marketing shtick and has no real substance. But then I think that perhaps the winemaker just has a good sense of humor. There’s no real way to know without giving it an [...]

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Oyster Bay Merlot – A Little Dirty, a Lot of Good

May 11th, 2009 | 2 Comments | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Merlot, New Zealand Wine, Red Wines

Although New Zealand and Oyster Bay are both best known for Sauvignon Blanc, it’s the Oyster Bay Merlot that has captured my attention. I first tasted this Merlot at the first ever North American Wine Blogger’s Conference last October. At that conference there was an open tasting of 100 wines from New Zealand. Most of [...]

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Dancing Bull Merlot – Big, Fruit-filled and Tasty

May 5th, 2009 | 1 Comment | email this | digg it | trackback

Published in Californian Wine, Merlot, Red Wines

When you see the label on the Dancing Bull Merlot you might think that the design looks similar to that found on Rancho Zabaco Zinfandels. Well, it is… and the two are related. Rancho Zabaco, part of the E&J Gallo portfolio, has been around since 1996 and has developed a good reputation for Zinfandel over [...]

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