merlot vs. cabernet

[Thomas]

WW touched on it briefly, but climate is important in the matter of grape growing. For instance, Merlot normally ripens before Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it has a better chance at being produced in cool climates, and it does do much better than CS in that regard (witness wonderful Merlots from northern Italy, and--only lately--reasonable ones from NY State).

Perhaps climate is a major reason for California Merlot's apparent weakness--too warm makes it ripen too well and lose its acids. But that is my conjecture.

The moral: not only does one need to be aware of the tried and true regions, one must take care to know from where the wine has come outside those regions. In some, Merlot will outshine CS; in others the reverse. But with the exceptions ww points out, CS is a much more powerful and longer lived product on its own yet it often needs the toning Merlot provides to make it approachable or at least less bombastic.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 10-19-2002).]