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winer · 03-24-2003, 01:08 AM,

Has anyone heard of a "white merlot"? I was in a store that sells wine kits last weekend, and the woman said that they sell a "white merlot", but they didn't have any in stock at the time. My flabber was gasted because I had never heard of such a thing.

quijote · 03-24-2003, 02:08 AM,

A few weeks ago I went to a friend's apartment before several of us headed out for dinner. My friend doesn't (cannot) drink alcohol, but served us a very sweet, cloying, and uninteresting wine. Unfortunately, she asked us how we liked the wine, and several of us hemmed and hawed, saying it was "a bit sweet." The wine turned out to be "white merlot" in a jug.

Maybe there is some good "white merlot" out there, but that experience will make it a good, long time before I look for it in the stores.

I wonder if "white merlot" is just wine made primarily from merlot grapes, with no or little exposure to skins and other tannin agents?

Or maybe it's not made from the merlot at all, but called "merlot" because of the trendy cachet and popular accessibility of the juice?

Kcwhippet · 03-24-2003, 05:31 AM,

Yeah, there is White Merlot out there, made the same way as White Zinfandel. They crush the Merlot grapes and move the juice to the fermenters without the skins. It's been around for a few years, and I think Forestville or Forest Glen makes one. Gotta do something with those thousands of extra acres of mediocre Merlot.

Thomas · 03-24-2003, 08:12 AM,

KC, if that's the case, then we soon will be seeing red Chardonnay...

quijote, if the label says Merlot the wine has to be at least 75% Merlot, white or otherwise.

Kcwhippet · 03-24-2003, 09:48 AM,

It's become very difficult to find a really good CA Merlot - one that's not so one dimensional. Got some Grgich Hills last year made from Carneros fruit that's very nice and trying very hard to struggle into another dimension, but still not quite there.

quijote · 03-24-2003, 12:47 PM,

75%? Wow, that means a big percentage of the wine doesn't have to taste like the varietal listed on the bottle. What is California merlot usually blended with?

And here's an overall merlot question: Is the Casa Lapostolle merlot considered a typical expression of the merlot grape? This wine is supposedly 100% merlot, and I'm thinking of buying a bottle to compare with the Casa Lapostolle Cabernet (which is 100% cab).

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