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Having been ridiculed (unfairly, in our opinion) in the movie, "Sideways," Merlot sometimes gets a bad rap as a beginner wine. We respectfully disagree. The Merlot grape, like many, can make fine wines for daily drinking as well as the best Merlots, sought out by collectors for their fine pedigree. Many of today's best-selling red blends contain Merlot as their backbone and some of the highest priced wines in the world (Château Pétrus in Bordeaux, for example) also use Merlot.
Merlot is versatile, which is why you'll find it planted in both warmer and cooler climates around the world. Besides Bordeaux, Merlot is also produced in the US, Australia, Chile, and elsewhere.
So here is an ode to Merlot. We know you well, and though we do not always sing your praises, we must give you your due as one of the greats.
WE8686 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 12/31/2021 Ripe plum- and cherry-tomato flavors lend a juicy, fruity, easy-drinking aspect to this medium-bodied wine. It’s low in tannins and acidity for a gentle texture. (Jim Gordon)
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VN9090 pts. - Vinous - Feb 2022 The 2019 La Tour de Mons spans two terms of ownership. It was sold in February 2020 to the Perroudot family (owners of Labégorce and Marquis d’Alesme), so the current team finished the aging. The 2019 has an expressive bouquet of lively blackberry and raspberry fruit, some attractive orange pith scents coming through with time. The palate is well balanced with fleshy ripe red fruit, white pepper and graphite. Nicely balanced and gentle, leading to a precise, quite Pauillac-like finish. Lovely.JD9090 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 4/11/2022 The 2019 Château La Tour De Mons is solid, with medium-bodied aromas and flavors of savory red fruits, leather, dried herbs, and chalky minerality. Balanced, with building tannins and outstanding length, it’s going to drink well for 15 years. (Jeb Dunnuck)
JS9393 pts. - JamesSuckling.com - Monday, July 4, 2022 Aromas of plums, ripe red cherries, wet stones and roses. Medium-to full-bodied with soft tannins. Juicy and succulent with a lovely bed of red fruit. So fresh, too. Enchanting. 94% merlot, 5% petite sirah and 1% malbec. Drink now.SP8989 pts. - Wine Spectator - Oct 31, 2022 Offers a narrow beam of refined currant, tobacco and spice flavors that build tension and tannins on the finish. Drink now through 2028. 30,024 cases made. (Tim Fish)RP8787 pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 15th Sep 2022 The 2019 Merlot offers up scents of cherry tomato and Bing cherries on the nose, while it comes across as rather tart and tannic on the medium to full-bodied palate. It’s far from being my favorite offering from this winery, but as a steakhouse red-wine option, it’ll do just fine. (Joe Czerwinski)
WE8686 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 12/31/2021 Ripe plum- and cherry-tomato flavors lend a juicy, fruity, easy-drinking aspect to this medium-bodied wine. It’s low in tannins and acidity for a gentle texture. (Jim Gordon)
VN9595 pts. - Vinous - Jun 2022 The 2019 Barde-Haut is beautifully defined on the nose, very pure with precise blackberry, briary, violets and iris flower, harmonious. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins, cohesive and mineral-driven; the terroir is very expressive towards the finish that lingers in the mouth. Wonderful, assured and with great potential. Tasted at the Barde-Haut vertical at the château. (Neal Martin)JD9494 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 4/11/2022 This beautiful estate is located on the eastern side of the appellation, and they consistently turn out brilliant wines. The 2019 Château Barde-Haut reveals a deep purple hue to go with classic limestone-influenced aromas and flavors of ripe black cherries, chalky minerality, chocolate, and white truffle. More medium to full-bodied and elegant than overtly powerful, its balance is spot on, it has beautiful tannins, and a great finish. It shows the vintage style perfectly and will benefit from 4–5 years of bottle age, and cruise for over two decades in cold cellars. (Jeb Dunnuck)
Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2019 / 750 ml. | Item#58162
JD94+94+ pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 4/11/2022 The 2019 Château Fombrauge is terrific and has a good mix of richness, concentration, and elegance. Giving up notes of mulled ripe cherries, Asian spices, blackberries, tobacco, and cedar pencil on the nose, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a seamless, layered, pure mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and just beautiful overall balance. It’s already drinking beautifully today yet will evolve positively for 5–7 years and hold for another 15–20 years. It’s another brilliant Saint-Emilion in the vintage. This seemed more modern and polished from barrel but shows a very classic style now from bottle. (Jeb Dunnuck)VN9494 pts. - Vinous - Feb 2022 The 2019 Fombrauge is one of the best wines I have tasted from this property in some time. It shows all the richness that is typical of Bernard Magrez’s style but with less heaviness and a good deal of aromatic presence that helps balance things out. Sweet dark cherry, chocolate, leather, licorice and mocha build into the resonant, super-expressive finish. The 2019 is a classy Fombrauge. (Antonio Galloni)
JD9393 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 3/29/2023 Always a winner, I can’t remember the last vintage of this cuvée that didn’t put a smile on my face. The 2020 Château La Vieille Cure has lots of up-front cassis and black cherry fruits to go with complex floral, lead pencil, and green tobacco-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, seamless, and elegant, it has the vintage’s concentrated, pure style front and center. It will evolve for 10–12 years. (Jeb Dunnuck)RP91+91–93+ pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 30th Jun 2021 Deep purple-black in color, the 2020 La Vieille Cure storms out of the glass with powerful notions of plum preserves, blueberry pie and baker’s chocolate, followed by suggestions of star anise, ground cloves and eucalyptus. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed by rich, ripe black and blue fruits, backed up by firm, grainy tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long and opulent. (Lisa Perrotti-Brown)
VN9494 pts. - Vinous - Feb 2022 The 2019 Labégorce was the first vintage vinified in the new cellar and also the first to use Cabernet Franc from the north part of the appellation, on more limestone soils, a massal selection from an organic producer in the south of France. Matured in 40% new oak, this has a voluminous, multifaceted bouquet, a mixture of red and black fruit, cedar and perhaps more rose petal than violet at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, very well balanced, and a little spicier than I found from barrel, leading to a detailed, tensile finish. (Neal Martin)JD9494 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 4/11/2022 Gorgeous notes of red, blue, and black fruits as well as sandalwood, tobacco leaf, chocolate, and spicy notes emerge from the 2019 Château Labégorce, one of the richer, more opulent, and straight-up sexy wines in the vintage. A blend of 46% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, all raised in 40% new oak, it’s medium to full-bodied, has beautifully integrated oak, a stacked mid-palate, and one heck of a great finish. Drink this rich, sensationally textured Margaux any time over the coming two decades. It’s unquestionably in the same league as the 2015, 2016, and 2018. (Jeb Dunnuck)
RP100100 pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 31st Mar 2021 The 2018 Château Margaux is composed of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, representing 36% of the crop this year. The wine has a pH of 3.8 and 14% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, it slowly unfurls to reveal tantalizing scents of crème de cassis, wild blueberries and Black Forest cake with hints of redcurrant jelly, rose oil, dark chocolate and cedar chest plus a touch of star anise. The medium to full-bodied palate bursts with opulent black fruit, fragrant earth and floral layers, supported by a rock-solid structure of exquisitely ripe, finely grained tannins and seamless backbone of freshness, finishing with fantastic length. This is classic Margaux at its most seductive, although it is, rather amazingly, approachable and absolutely delicious right now. But, to enjoy its full glory, you will want to cellar it for at least 6–8 years and then watch it metamorphize over the next 40+ years.JD100100 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 3/11/2021 Based on 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2018 Château Margaux is a magical, incredibly sexy expression of this Château that sports a dense purple color as well as a thrilling bouquet of blueberries, cassis, acacia flowers, scorched earth, sandalwood, and violets. Incredibly concentrated and full-bodied on the palate, it nevertheless has an almost Burgundian sense of finesse and elegance, with an ethereal texture, silky yet massive amounts of tannins, notable freshness, and brilliant length. The alcohol hit a whopping 14%, which is high by this estate’s standards, but everything is flawlessly integrated, the balance is perfect, and I certainly can’t find anything that could be better. This 2018 is going to be relatively drinkable at an early age (do your best to hide bottles for 7–8 years) yet last for 75+. (Jeb Dunnuck)JS100100 pts. - JamesSuckling.com - Sunday, November 28, 2021 So much ash, tobacco and earth to the bright blackberry and currant aromas. Flowers too. Fresh. Full-bodied with seamless tannins that spread across your palate and caress every square centimeter. It’s shows loads of ripe-berry, cherry, currant and chocolate character, as well as walnut and light cedar. Then the finish goes on for minutes. Extremely refined and elegant, despite the structure. 90% cabernet sauvignon, 4% cabernet franc, 4% merlot and 2% petit verdot. A joy to taste, but drink after 2025.VN98+98+ pts. - Vinous - Mar 2021 The 2018 Margaux is an infant. Today, the tannins are unusually searing, but then again, the 2018 is a wine in which all the elements are dialed up to the maximum. Time in the glass releases the fruit, revealing a luxurious, opulent Château Margaux built for the cellar. Cedar, tobacco, dried flowers and mint develop with a bit of coaxing. Rich, deep and utterly beguiling, the 2018 is a dramatic wine that will thrill readers lucky enough to own it.SP9898 pts. - Wine Spectator - Mar 31, 2021 This struts along with supreme confidence, as a cashmere-textured structure effortlessly carries a prodigious set of warmed cassis, plum reduction and blackberry compote flavors, pulling in alder, bergamot, black and red tea and iron notes. Still manages to come across as restrained in the end. A beautiful wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2028 through 2040. 10,833 cases made.WE9898 pts. - Wine Enthusiast - 5/1/2021 While this wine reflects the richness and density of the vintage, it also shows all the elegance of which a great Margaux is capable. The wine is powerful and beautifully structured, both ripe and restrained. It will age magnificently. Start to think about drinking from 2028.
Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux 2019 / 750 ml. | Item#60250
JD9393 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 4/11/2022 Coming from the incredible team at Pavie, the 2019 Clos Lunelles boasts a big, ripe, incredibly sexy and mouth-filling style as well as notes of black plums, black cherries, tobacco, and Asian spices. It brings serious fruit and opulence and is full-bodied, has a round, expansive mouthfeel, sweet tannins, and some obvious underlying minerality. It’s already drinking beautifully and should deliver the goods over the coming 10–15 years. While it leads with its fruit, I expect it to show more classic limestone character as it sheds some baby fat. (Jeb Dunnuck)VN9292 pts. - Vinous - Feb 2022 The 2019 Clos Lunelles seems to have clammed up on the nose. It was marked by its intensity from barrel, but the strictness that I noted then is more accentuated and you have to eke out the blackberry, blueberry and incense aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins and well-judged acidity. Smooth and silky in texture, this has cohered nicely during its barrel maturation, yet it retains some muscle on the finish. This is a fine Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, but as I mentioned before, it will require 4–5 years of bottle age. (Neal Martin)RP90+90+ pts. - Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate - 7th Apr 2022 The Perse family’s Côtes de Castillon property, located on the clay-limestone soils typical of this appellation, has produced a serious, structured wine in the 2019 Clos Lunelles. Exhibiting aortas of sweet berry fruit, exotic spices and creamy new oak, it’s medium to full-bodied, taut and concentrated, with tangy acids and plenty of powdery tannin. (William Kelley)
SP8787 pts. - Wine Spectator - Nov 30, 2021 Fleshy and open-textured, with minerally accents to the dried raspberry and cherry flavors. Ends with a clean and direct finish. Drink now. 247,500 cases made. (Kim Marcus)
JD9090 pts. - Jeb Dunnuck - 7/9/2022 Always bottled early, the 2020 Merlot is all varietal from a mix of sites in the Walla Walla Valley. It has a juicy, medium to full-bodied, chewy style on the palate as well as good purity in its ripe red and blue fruits, notes of tobacco, scorched earth, and graphite-like aromatics. It has some grippy, chalk tannins, and while rock-solid today, it’s not a wine to hide away in the cellar. (Jeb Dunnuck)
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Bota Box Merlot
Château La Tour de Mons Margaux
Stags’ Leap Napa Valley Merlot
Bota Mini Merlot
