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[Pejmanesque] WATER INTO WINE: And why not? California’s pinot noir wines are a delight (not least the Hitching Post pinot noir, featured heavily in “Sideways” and subsequently in every trendy wine outlet). So, too, its cabernet sauvignons, its shirazes, its zinfandels, even (with due respect to Miles) its merlots. From the soil of the Napa Valley, Sonoma and Santa Barbara County, California is producing not just some of the world’s finest wines, such as Opus One from the joint-venture of Robert Mondavi and Baronesse Philippine de Rothschild, but consistently drinkable, moderately priced wines from companies such as E&J.

[LENNDEVOURS] Hamptons Wine Guide: What's "Old" Is Good: Tracy also uses some of most traditional winemakingtechniques possible. For instance, Merlot grapes are stomped by foot tomake their 2004 Channing Perrine "Fleur de la Terre" Rosé, a dry,full-bodied Rosé that is anything but a White Zinfandel. Thedeliciously complex 2003 L'enfant Sauvage Chardonnay is fermented withits own indigenous yeast (instead of added yeast) and took more thanone year to complete primary fermentation, much longer than usual.

[A Fool in the Forest] If You Think That's Bad, Wait Till You Hear What They're Doing With Loaves and Fishes: Not every winemaker in California wants to receive those hyper-ripe, alcohol-engendering grapes.   Some -- Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat is a leading example -- make it an article of faith that grapes can be fully "ripe" for winemaking purposes without excessive sugar levels, and work hard to produce wines of charm and longevity at and below the 13% level without post-harvest tinkering.  Huge producers may insist that their growers provide those longer hang times, with the result that the average alcohol level in the mass market is likely to remain high for the near future -- perhaps until the Great Consumer Rebellion of 2007 foreseen by Tom -- but there is still opportunity for small and mid-size wineries, particularly those that grow their own grapes, to buck the trend.

[cincinnati wine garage -- tasting notes and other stuff] It Can't Be This Complicated!: changes to the appellation system, more and more quality Bordeaux wines are being labelled with the grape variety rather than simply its geographic region. The change is an attempt by producers..., they would reveal that a St Emilion is mostly made from merlot, that a red Burgundy is made from

[Blog.i-magery.com] Wine @ I-Magery: Merlot: Its softness and "fleshiness", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot an ideal grape to blend with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet. Many Merlots are made in a style popular with newer red wine drinkers (though to be clear, good Merlots accompanying appropriate food are popular with many regular wine drinkers as well). It is produced primarily in France and California, and on a lesser scale in Australia, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, Slovenia, and other parts of the United States. (Merlot from the state of Washington has been gaining recognition, and a small quantity of high-quality wine from this grape is also now being produced on the eastern end of Long Island, New York.) Most wines from Bordeaux contain at least some Merlot, and in the regions of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion it is not unusual for Merlot to comprise the majority of the blend.

[Purplesunshine.com] PurpleSunshine.com :: blog: But some of us thought it was kind of banal -- cough syrup, Concord grape juice -- once you drank it. As Jeff put it: "The same note, again and again and again." Becky pointed out that Chile's Carmenère was originally mistaken for Merlot but is now believed to be a long-lost Bordeaux grape. "They should not have found it," Gary said.

[Purplesunshine.com] PurpleSunshine.com :: blog:      Unfortunately, we ran into trouble with the wine that was supposed to be the blockbuster finale – the 1999 Havens “Bourriquot” Napa Valley Red Wine (67% Cabernet Franc and 33% Merlot). Priced at $33, it’s modeled after a Château Cheval-Blanc, which apparently is among Bordeaux’s best-regarded Cab Franc-dominated wines and has the exact same varietal composition. But there was something wrong with the bottle we tried, because the wine smelled like a plastic shower curtain.

[Vinography.com] Vinography: a wine blog: 2001 Luna Vineyards Merlot, Napa: Kongsgaard has given up the reigns and winemaking is now done by Mike Drash, formerly of De Loach, J Wine Company, and Far Niente, who according to the winery's web site not only brings his prodigious blending talents to the outfit, but apparently a high quality Elvis impersonation as well. Drash continues to maintain Luna's steadfast commitment to using native yeasts and co-fermentation (mixing various varietals together instead of fermenting them separately) as well as delivering wines unfined and unfiltered whenever possible.

[Vinography.com] Vinography: a wine blog: 2002 Frias Family Merlot, Spring Mountain ...: First, and maybe not so important to the consumer who is staring at a bottle on the shelf of a store, the Frias Family is actually a family, and more than that, they're really great folks -- super approachable and enthusiastic about anything to do with wine and those who enjoy it. Your first encounter with these old time Napa folks is most likely to be Manny Frias Jr., whose business card reads "Distributor - Grower - Son" and whose broad smile and affable nature make him a perfect face to the wine drinking public.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Merlot, Wine, Tasting Notes, Gourmets Of Wine