A Contrarian View of Merlot

Eric Asimov, wine writer for the New York Times, has a very insightful and informative blog called The Pour.  This week he tackles one of my major peeves, notably that Merlot, despite the heights of grandeur it can attain in various terroir throughout the world including France (Pomerol), Italy (Tuscany) and California, is continually derided as being inferior wine.  Certainly the derision inflicted by Sideways (and the subsequent elevation of Pinot Noir to ethereal heights) played no small part in this, but Eric also properly notes that winemakers haven't always done themselves a lot of favors when it comes to working with the grape:

But the wines illustrate this significant difference: In Pomerol, the Certan de May vineyard is planted in its proportion because that is what winemakers determined over time made the best wine from that particular piece of land. In California, many producers grow merlot, cabernet, syrah and other grapes, often from adjacent plots, and then they bottle them separately so they can have a complete line of products. They may blend in something with the merlot, but the final blend has to include at least 75 percent merlot, or they can’t legally call it merlot. The Certain de May, you see, could not be called merlot in California.

Custom, consumer expectation and marketing pressures all feed into California producers wanting to make the best merlot possible, or the best cabernet sauvignon. Imagine if all they had to worry about was making the best wine possible? Then merlot wouldn’t need a defense.

Amen to that last part.  Merlot is not a standalone grape, and the old world producers figured this out long ago; witness the fact that Merlot is by far the most widely-planted grape in the entire Bordeaux region, a region that began to optimize its varietals based on terroir 2,000 years ago under the Romans ... 

While we are on the subject of merlot, one of the best ones I've had recently was a 2000 Louis M. Martini Merlot Cuvee (Ghost Pines Vineyard, Chiles Valley), a gift from our friend Marty.  The wine itself was so tannic as to be nearly undrinkable at first, but after a couple hours' aeration it paired wonderfully with a tomato and anchovy-based tuna sauce for pasta -- the tannins and fruit balanced quite well with the saltiness and zing of the sauce. 

From a value perspective, Merlot being out of favor has led to some great bargains at the wine shop.  Skip the grape if you'd like, but that just leaves more for me ...