Juicy Merlot

Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Everytime I think of the movie, Sideways, I think of this exchange:

Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot.
Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!

If Miles had been drinking the Merlot that I had last night, he wouldn’t have complained. It was amazing.

The wine was juicy with balanced, almost understated acidity.  The fruit was jammy but not cloying.  Not at all what I expected from a Merlot.  It tasted like a more mature, blended wine.  The wine was produced by Independent Producers in the Columbia Valley AVA using sustainable agricultural methods.  The wine maker, Christophe Hedges is a scion of the Hedges Family Estate, but has stepped out from the family’s influence to produce this wine.

His mission? “To capture terroir in its most raw form and to preserve the integrity of the wine world by rebelling against the 100 point rating system.” Additionally there is no advertising related to the bottle (though I am sure that the distributors take care of this).

Kevin and I were really pleased with this bottle and appreciate trying to get out from under the 100 point systems that designates the palates of a few as superior to rest of us. Drink what you like is our philosophy!

And at $11 it is hard to beat.

I am unable to find a website for the label called Independent Producers.  Their address is:

53511 N. Sunset Road
Benton City, Washington 99320

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This entry was posted on December 18, 2009 at December 18, 2009 and is filed under AVA, Gretchen Neuman, Kevin Neuman, Merlot, Washington, local wines, wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.