05-02-09 We went to dinner at a friends home. The company was great and the food was great. Since I knew roast beef was on the menu I brought one of my not so expensive Bordeaux's. My wine was great. No complaints. I'm not writing about my Bordeaux today......I'm writing about the Merlot another guest brought to the dinner. Let me just say, I love Merlot. St. Emillion, an appellation within Bordeaux, makes some wonderful examples of Merlot based wines. This wine, from California, actually made me angry! I was angry with the why the wine maker chose to present this wine. Most California Merlot's are very fruit forward. This is to be expected California is new world. California examples of Merlot should be laddened with ripe red berry fruit and have a little more alcohol to balance that fruit than Cabernet Sauvignon. Bordeax examples are more elegant and less fruit forward. Anyway, this Merlot was so overly oaked that I could not drink it. I have too much respect for wine. I kept tasting it though to see if it would change in the glass over a few minutes......it didn't. I find it an insult to the fruit, to have it presented that way. Afterall that fruit was painstakingly grown in the vineyard. So how do you know if a wine is overly oaked? The vanilla flavor in the wine takes over. The vanilla in this wine was so overpowering that I couldn't find the fruit. Now I don't know if this wine was fermented in new American Oak or aged in new American Oak, or god forbid, vanilla flavoring was added to the wine.....this wine had too much vanilla. It totally overpowered the fruit! Now you know I write about my most memorable wines.....this wine was memorable. Not in the way I'd like.
Wine - Bogle (Merlot) - 2006 (California red) $7.99 - clear, with deep purple to ruby colour from core to rim. Clean, medium to pronounced youthful aromas of deep red berries and vanilla. Dry, medium acidity, medium tannin, high alcohol, full bodied with pronounced flavors of deep red berries and vanilla. Medium length. The balance in this wine was off due to the over oaking. If you like vanilla with berries, this wine if for you.