Great Value Merlot

[Bucko]

1997 Stone Creek Merlot, California, Special Selection, $8, new release - 100,000 cases produced so there should be good distribution. An amazing value wine, with very nice black fruit, complexity, soft tannins and nice acidity. A good food wine. Another wine for those summer parties that is easy on the wallet.

Bucko

[Jerry D Mead]

Bucko...These guys were first to go after the Merlot market in a volume sort of way...an old-time marketing guy (now retired and living in Hawaii) named Eric Wing saw the future and jumped on it.

Because of that, they still have some long term contracts on really good fruit.

JDM

[Bucko]

It shows, the fruit is really nice for the low price.

Bucko

[misterjive]

As for great value Merlot, I recently was impressed yet again with the 1997 Glass Mountain; I forget who owns GM, but it, too, is an offering easy on wallet and palate both....

[MoreWines]

Thomas Coyne Merlots are a good value.
From $12.50 to $20.00. He makes 5 Merlots.
97 Livermore Valley was a double gold at
the California State Fair. Herbal character,
slight mineral background is balanced with cherry fruit and vanilla oak. $16.00

96 Sonoma County Gold Medal California State Fair
Full, exhibiting cedar wood and a herbal character. $20.00

97 Califonia Gold Medal San Francisco Bay Wine Competition. Light herbal bouquet with a cherry and berry flavor, aged in American and French Oak for sixteen months. $12.50