MY MERLOT MOAN

In the shops the other day I came across a bottle of wine that took my interest.

It was a French produced Merlot with fancy looking labels and cap, so I thought I’d give it a try. After all, you think if it is a French produced wine, then it should be good, don’t you?

The front label said “ xxxxxx xxxxxx (The company name), Reserve 2006, MERLOT”.

The back label had, in the nearest thing to microscopic printing you could ever wish to see, I may add, “xxxxxx xxxxxx Reserve wines are made from grapes grown in selected vineyards of the Languedoc Roussillon (the Languedoc region of France, I think). These vineyards have been chosen because they are situated in the prime growing areas and therefore harvest the very best grapes.

GRAPES: 100% Merlot

STYLE: Elegant and silky with cherry and berry fruits complemented by silky tannins.

13% Volume, (and at the bottom) CONTAINS SULPHITE”

As I say, the whole bottle looked appealing, just like the daunting thousands of others do in the shops when you come to make a purchase, or when the boss has got you in a rush, and as this was one of the first vines I bought originally (and naively) to grow in my greenhouse and with others now growing outdoors in the garden, I thought I’d give it a try, just for comparison purposes.

My first thought when I tried it was that it smelled OK, just like my own Merlot grapes do, looked about the right colour a red wine should be, although it did not appear to have much body, and after the first sip I recognised the familiar fruit flavour of my Merlot grapes.

But where the cherries were hiding I’d no idea!! I think some fancy marketing hype was kidding me!!

As far as “elegant and silky – complemented by silky tannins” went, that was all hogwash. It was as harsh as hell – so much for the silky tannins; needing another years storage at least before it should have been let out on the public at large, and even then it would only be a poor quality wine.

The only good thing to come out of my purchase was the bottle itself!!

To think that these suppliers have this type of second-rate rubbish on their shelves and actually want you to pay for the pleasure of opening these bottles beggars my belief.

And the best of it is you have no idea what you are buying until you have opened the bottle, usually miles away from the shop, and that is the time when it is just too late to do anything about it.

They are obviously playing on the “anticipation” theme.

It is chemically treated tripe in my opinion, and as an individually graped wine, forget it!!

In my view, now more so than ever, the Merlot should be used purely as a bulk grape, which is the way I use it myself, and in this way it does a splendid job, so if you only want to grow a single variety in your greenhouse or on your patio, this one is most definitely not recommended.

Although, I must add, there are some folks who swear by the wine produced solely with the Merlot grape.



Best regards,

George

P.S. If anyone feels the need to ask questions or let me know anything about vine growing (both indoor and out) or wine making, especially if you have feelings about certain wines you have had that left a bad taste in your mouth, I can be contacted on george@vines-make-wines.com which is a site I am just setting up.

Any email contacts will be strictly kept from any other person or company and will be dealt with personally by myself.