$10 Meritage

[Brom]

"The Bordeaux folks get along swimmingly without it."

I don't know - the generic AOC Bordeaux serves as the Bordelaise equivalent of Meritage, wouldn't you think? To call a wine a Bordeaux means that not only is it grown in a specified geographic area, but that it is comprised only of certain grapes.

That is all that Meritage means. Just as in Bordeaux, there is no identifiable standard of the composition of the wine. In fact, at least with a Meritage one is guaranteed of a blend of at least two varietals, which is of course not the case in Bordeaux. Of course it is also a fact that one can buy Meritage wines that are for example more Merlot than CA wines labeled Merlot.