Los Carneros of Napa Valley

[mrdutton]

Just to do something different I popped open a bottle of 1996 Robert Sinskey Vineyards Los Carneros Merlot.

I got fruit on the nose and the palate - seemed plum-like to me (the wine maker says dark cherry and blueberry) along with hints of tree.... A somewhat herbal and slightly astringent finish accompanied by oak. The alcohol per the label was 13.9%, but the wine seemed, to me, to be almost on the verge of being hot (hand-full of fingers running down the side of the glass).

The back label says that this was a handcrafted Merlot from grapes grown in Sinskey's Los Carneros vineyards. It then states that 210 barrels were made. Their web site says that the wine is barrel aged in new French oak barrels.

Do not remember what I paid for this one, but it was probably too much.

Past several weeks have been spent drinking stuff like Bonney Doon Big House Red, Fleury Cotes du Ventoux, Fluery Cotes du Rhone Village, Rosemount Shiraz, Cline Zin and Cline Cotes d'Oakley along with some Wolf Blass Grenache and a case of Beaujolais Villages.

So........ I thought I'd try a Merlot for a change of pace. Maybe I should have followed IK's path and chosen a French merlot rather than a Californian, oh well.

Pace changed, now I must march smartly back to the world, IMHO, of better red wines.

This Merlot was drinkable, for sure, but it helped remind me that there are far, far better things in life than wines that start with M (excepting Mourvedre) or C (excepting a good CS blend or CF or Chablis).

[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 05-17-2001).]