This wine attracted me because of the artistically designed bottle and the fact that it was from Chile. I have never drunk wine from Chile. My initial interest soon waned after I tasted the wine.
Initially, the Merlot looked promising. Immediately upon opening the bottle, a rich plum based odor came out. It seemed like this would be a flavor rich and dense drink. Produced with grapes from a vineyard just outside Santiago made the wine seem even more alluring. And after the winning Shiraz I enjoyed the day before, I finally thought my wine selection skills were getting better. But turns out, the Merlot had a great nose and little taste.
It looked like a raspberry cordial and I inhaled scents of bananas, plums and pears. A quick swish around the glass and flowers and pears were added to the bouquet. Another swish and I was back in my childhood ordering rhubarb and custard hard candies at the local sweet shop in England’s northern countryside. That was it, I was ready to enjoy the taste.
Then everything went sour. Well, more precisely everything went bland. The Merlot had a reasonable yet loose structure with subtle tannins. The beginning of the sip was smooth and slightly creamy and there was a dry finish that was not overly sharp. But that’s was it really. Gone were the pears and bananas, gone were the hard candies from my youth. It was boring, a drink to drink for the sake of drinking.
This would be (if I ever decided to place it on my wine rack in the future) a pizza wine for me. Its plain taste would work well with a spicy pepperoni pizza as it wouldn’t interfere with or even challenge the taste.
There’s something lacking in this wine for me but I’m not experienced enough in vino to put my finger on it. It’s very easy to drink, like I’m drinking looking for that missing part thinking if I just keep going it will turn up at the bottom of the glass. It didn’t.
The Merlot still lacks density and structure for this Cabernet lover. I think I should keep a bottle of Merlot on the wine rack for guests that claim to like red wine but perhaps aren’t expecting or even want a very rigid heavy bodied red like a Cab. Well, then again, I’m sure there are better options out there.
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