Hello Everyone! We are fresh back from Bermuda after a nice long weekend and are excited to share this wine with you. When we travel to Bermuda, we like to hit one of our favorite restaurants out in Southampton – The Ocean Club. However, it’s only open seasonally so our alternate “go to” restaurant has been Blu at Belmont. It has a great view of the island and harbor and a fabulous location to watch the sun set. Okay, so this is a wine blog and not a travel blog, so we’ll get on with the wine.
When we first started to really enjoy wine, Merlot was our grape of choice followed closely by Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot has many of the characteristics of Cabernet but it has a little less tannin that makes it more approachable at the outset. However, we do enjoy a Merlot than has the weight of a Cabernet and there are a few out there. As Merlot grew in popularity through the 90’s, the prices also climbed and the quality slowly declined. Then in 2004, the pivotal event happened: the character Miles from Sideways seemingly ended the era of Merlot with his famous phrase, “I am not drinking any f@*$ing Merlot!” From that statement, the Pinot Noir craze was born. While not so good for the reputation of Merlot, this was great for us because Merlot prices came back down, the quality rose, and only the serious producers hung in there.
Clos du Val is located in the Stags Leap district of Napa Valley, and was co-founded in 1972 by Bordeaux native Bernard Portet. Bernard was Clos du Val’s winemaker for a number of years and still remains deeply involved with the winery today. The 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon, their very first vintage, was one of only 6 Napa Cabernets selected to compete in the famed “Judgment of Paris” tasting arranged by Steven Spurrier in 1976. We have found that Clos du Val maintains consistent quality year after year. So when Rachel spotted the Clos Du Val Merlot at a reasonable price after perusing the wine list at Blu, we decided to go for it. (We have often found that the Merlot section is a good place to look on a restaurant wine list for some good bargains.)
We have been to the winery in Napa a few times, and were able to enjoy their Zinfandel while living in Bermuda. It turns out that the winery makes the Zinfandel for export only, but will be releasing a Primitivo, Zinfandel’s Italian cousin, soon. When the waiter brought the wine out and poured a sample, we could tell it was going to be good from the smell alone. Then when we first tasted it, we knew Rachel had picked a winner for the evening. It had all of the black fruit flavors of Merlot, but it also had a good bit of earth and tannins. It was full-bodied and intense but not overly astringent. After reading the back label, we found out that the wine was 83% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a classic blend of Bordeaux found on the right bank in areas such as St. Emilion or Pomerol. In the United States, a wine only needs to be 75% of one grape to be called a varietal. In fact the 2006 vintage is 77% Merlot; just 2% over the minimum. The Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon were providing the extra spice, earthy aromas, tannins and structure to the wine in great balance with the softness and dark fruits of the Merlot.
This is definitely a buy a few more bottles at a time, although we don’t see it that often. Like many wines, there is quite a range for the retail price, from $13.50 - $23. It’s often difficult to find a complex wine like this at the lower end of the price range. Typically, you’ll find non-estate Cabernet Sauvignon in the $18 - $25 range, which tend to have a bit less structure than this wine. Look for Beaulieu, Sebastiani, or Benziger if you want to stick with Cabernet. For another power Merlot, we find we never go wrong with Sebastiani’s Merlot.
Like what you drink, Drink what you Like!
Rachel and Bryan Gavini
The Office
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