Merlot tasting

Had a nice wine tasting over the weekend of a bunch of merlots. The merlot varied a great deal and were from all over. Two were from Columbia valley in Washington, two were from Napa and two were from Bordeaux. I had brought Newton and the 2nd Bordaeux (not pictured).

The first two I thought were drinkable but not something I would have with food. They both had the touch of leather and the first dark cherry but were somewhat light. The Newton was more complex and certainly good, I had thought it had goon tannic nature and had mistaken it for the Bordeaux (the fourth wine) because I thought it had some cab franc from the salivatory nature. The Chateau D'Aiguilhe was good, despite being 2003 (supposedly not a great year for wine because it was so hot) having good structure and some complexity. I did not taste the cab franc in it. The last was 2005 from Washington that was good, but did not resemble the other Washington Merlot also 2005, though Red Mountain (from which the 5th came from) is an appellation.

The sixth wine was very Bordeaux, had a raw meat flavor and would probably go really well with a heavy dish, and was not my favorite.

I would probably rate the wines in order of preference, 3, 5, 4, 2, 1, 6. If it was just to drink I would proably go 1, 2, 4, 5 and 3