After closing up on Saturday night, I sat at home with my wife on one of the month's rainiest April showers days watching tv and sipping on some wine. While we were surfing (perfect term to reflect the torrents outside as well) through the channels, we came across the most famous wine movie of all time; Sideways. Since I am a Pinot Noir man, I love all that this movie did for that grape, however, as a child of Bacchus, I have been deeply saddened by the death that Merlot faced.
I guess a bit of background is needed here. In the movie Sideways, the protagonist, Miles, is a self defined wine nut with a kryptonite-esque aversion to Merlot and refuses to touch a single glass of it. Miles true passion in life was Pinot Noir. Then, while on this bachelor party gone awry in Napa, he meets a woman named Maya who shares his passion for the world's most finicky grape and love ensues. (There is a great scene where Maya explains her love for Pinot Noir that will make your inner Burgundian emerge no matter what your preference for Bacchus' blood would be)
Well, after the movie came out, the Merlot grape died (because of Miles' famed line, "I'm not drinking any f-ing Merlot!") and probably rightfully so. Most Merlot that was being grown in the Napa Valley was flabby, unexciting wine that was expensive for no certain reason. Napa then went through a renaissance with Merlot and small, attention driven lots of Merlot started to pop up and the grape slowly came back. BUT SLOWLY!
SO, as we watched, I immediately decided that since we were headed off in the morning to meet my wife's newest baby boy cousin, I would bring a bottle of Merlot and see what the crowds had to say. Granted, the parents were probably more excited to see something besides a formula bottle in front of them but I was still curious. I also grabbed a curveball wine; a Washington State wine - the 2007 Waterbrook Merlot Reserve. Waterbrook has over the last few years, reached a 90+ point score from Wine Spectator and this 2007 reached the famed Top 100 Wine List of 2010 and I just had to see how it would stand up to the Miles' statement.
When we arrived, the entire family embraced, and almost immediately, the question arose of what had I brought for the masses to drink? I love Sunday get togethers for this reason in particular, outside of the family "hey how are you's". The second I pulled the bottles out of my bag, almost immediately, my uncle-in-law stated the famed "I'm not drinking any f-ing Merlot!" and we all had a great laugh. I almost expected this because I never bring Merlot and EVERYONE has seen Sideways (and Bottle Shocked, another great wine movie) in this family.
The greatest part of the afternoon occurred after the first cork was popped; the new mother tried it and smile that only Bacchus could draw on a human face occurred. Now she has been without this great grape juice for nearly 10 months, so Tisdale might have worked, but I know that wine spoke for itself. The wine itself was dark, dense and extremely rich with tar, charcoal and mint notes laced over blackberry fruits. There was even a molasses kick at the end mixed with the subtly layered oak. A truly masterful effort that surprised everyone (except the new addition to the family of course) and is completely worth its coveted spot on the WS Top 100 list.
If further evidence was needed, I brought 6 bottles and the 8 of us polished them off in the matter of hours! Don't miss out on this wine as I know it will not always be around.
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