Theme:
With Summer coming to an end. I wanted to get back to REDS! We haven't really tasted Merlot's in a while, so I thought about getting back to basics. I chose Merlot's from California, Chile, and a French Bordeaux from the right bank that would consist of mostly the Merlot grape. So here we go!
The Wines:
- Color: Deep, ruby red
- Nose: Initially mocha, spice, and dustiness came through. As it opened up more cherry and blackberry emerged.
- Mouth: A dry medium-full bodied wine with a cherry tartness. Medium tannins are round with flavors of mocha and cherry and a nice finish.
- Price: $16.99
- Rating: 3/5 (Beth), 3.5/5 (Lisa), 3.5/5 (Mary Jo)
Santa Ema 2009 Reserve (Maipe Vally) Merlot- Color: Deep, ruby red with a lighter outer ring
- Nose: An aromatic wine with definite notes of asparagus, chocolate, spice, and vanilla.
- Mouth: Another medium-full bodied wine with smooth acidity, medium plus tannins. Flavors of chocolate and red fruit with spice on the finish.
- Price: $14.99
- Rating: 3.5/5 (Beth), 4/5 (Lisa), 4/5 (Mary Jo)
Chateau Jardin 2000 De Petit Village Pomerol
- Color: A hint of brick in the deep red
- Nose: An aromatic nose that definitely shows some age with aromas of tobacco, dust, and leather.
- Mouth: A bone dry wine with medium, dry tannins. Fruit came forward with dinner.
- Price: $23.99
- Rating: 3/5(Beth), 3/5 (Lisa), 3/5 (Mary Jo)
Overall Conclusion:
These three wines each had distinctive characteristics that you might expect coming from three different regions. We enjoyed the finish on the Kendall Jackson, and the nose on the Santa Ema was very distinctive with the asparagus notes! Definitely a wine from Chili. The French wine benefited from spending some time in the decanter and we enjoyed it much more with food. (Ratings are on a 1-5 scale with 5 being best.)
Pairings:
Merlot BellaVitano Cheese: Delicious cheese that paired well with all the wines. It paired the best with the Santa Ema, and it really popped the French wine. Lovely with the Kendall Jackson as well, cherry and blackberry of the wine came forward.
Manchego Cheese: Enjoyed this cheese best with Santa Ema Merlot. Pairing was fine, but not as enjoyable and the first cheese.
Candian Cheddar Cheese: Enjoyed the cheese, but was a difficult pairing with the wines. It was the best match with the French wine.
Meatloaf: Meatloaf made a nice pairing with the wines. It was difficult to pick a favorite between the Kendall Jackson and Santa Ema.
Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate w/Caramel: Wonderful pairing, brought out fruit in the wines. Would definitely recommend this pairing.
Bissinger's Chocolate Covered Wine Grapes: Not a wow like the dark chocolate with caramel, but a nice pairing overall. Better with the Kendall Jackson and Santa Ema than with the French wine.
Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate w/Sea Salt & Almonds: Another nice pairing. It was interesting how it brought a nuttiness in the Kendall Jackson wine.
Conclusion:
Beth: With the weather beginning to change it was nice to have a comfort wine/food night! Merlot sometimes gets a bad wrap as being to overly fruity, but that was not the case with these wines. My favorite of the evening was Santa Ema with the Kendall Jackson coming in as a second. Overall I felt it paired best with our meal. It also had such a distinctive nose with the aromas of asparagus. Thanks Lisa for a wonderful evening!
Lisa: Wow! Have Merlot's changed? They were not what I was expecting. Since Merlot's were what I first ventured into with dry reds many years ago, I thought they would be a little more fruity. However, the Kendall Jackson was the most fruit forward of the three on it's own but with food the other two did popped some fruit flavors too. As a sipper on it's own, I think my favorite was the Santa Ema but with food I may lean a little bit toward the Kendall-Jackson. Although the French wine was definitely the most interesting!
Lisa: Wow! Have Merlot's changed? They were not what I was expecting. Since Merlot's were what I first ventured into with dry reds many years ago, I thought they would be a little more fruity. However, the Kendall Jackson was the most fruit forward of the three on it's own but with food the other two did popped some fruit flavors too. As a sipper on it's own, I think my favorite was the Santa Ema but with food I may lean a little bit toward the Kendall-Jackson. Although the French wine was definitely the most interesting!
Mary Jo: I was thrilled to revisit an old favorite, and happily surprised that the quality just keeps improving! My overall favorite was the Santa Ema. What a great wine for a great price!!! It really had a wonderful complexity on the nose with aromas like canned corn and asparagus, smoke, chocolate and vanilla! Definite notes of red fruit, vanilla and spice on the palate. To me, the Santa Ema paired the best with the food, with the exception of the chocolates. The Kendall-Jackson was also very interesting on the nose with dusty, blackberry scents with hints of tart cherry, mocha and spice. This wine had a wonderful, medium finish! The Le Jardin was earthy on the nose, with little to no fruit, and hints of leather and tobacco. This wine paired well with the Merlot BellaVitano cheese and the cheese made the wine's fruit pop on the finish. Each of these wines was distinct and were wonderful for comparison! It definitely feels like fall! Thanks, Lisa, for a great class!!
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