Forget Wine Snobs; Duckhorn Gives Merlot Its Due: John Mariani
When I attended a wine media dinner
back in 1980 featuring Napa Valleys Duckhorn Vineyards, I
thought it would be just a nice evening out at New Yorks Four
Seasons restaurant. I knew nothing about newcomers Dan and
Margaret Duckhorn or their wines, and I was very surprised when
they poured merlot. I was even more surprised when I tasted it.
At the time, few California wineries gave much thought to
merlot except as a nice blending varietal to smooth out big,
tannic cabernets, then the prestige wines of the era. No one
imagined they could make a great wine like Bordeauxs Chateau
Petrus (now about $1,000 a bottle), even though its
predominantly merlot. But that night at the Four Seasons was a
moment when the wine world was shaken, with delight.
I remember clearly smelling and tasting the wine, with a
definite but very pleasant herbal nose. What amazed me was the
complexity and richness, the soft tannins and the sheer
brightness of a varietal I had mostly dismissed.
As impressed as I was, I had no way of knowing at the time
if any except Duckhorns merlots had a future. As it worked out,
largely because of Duckhorns efforts, merlot became an enormous
success story among California winemakers.
Costing far less than cabernet sauvignon, the wine hit the
sweet spot for a burgeoning generation of Americans ready for
something so easy to drink, so adaptable to foods and, by later
in the 1980s, so readily available.
As “The Oxford Companion to Wine notes, DNA research
suggests that merlot “is likely to be the progeny of cabernet
franc … and probably half-brother to cabernet sauvignon.
More Merlot
Merlot plantings grew exponentially (its the predominant
red grape planted in France). The problem was, as ever, that
success translated into scores of California wineries producing
oceans of terrible, one-dimensional merlots. Beringer even
produced a white merlot to compete with white zinfandel, and in
1985 a Napa company began marketing Marilyn Merlot, with labels
depicting the late actress in poses licensed from her estate.
By the 1990s, merlot was experiencing double-digit sales
growth, soaring to 7.8 million cases in 2005 from 1.6 million in
1995. Its still the leading red varietal purchased by Americans
today.
Yet sales started to flatten out in 2004 — not
coincidentally the same year that the hit movie “Sideways was
released. (In the film, pinot noir snob Miles Raymond screams
that he will NOT drink any merlot.)
Merlots fall from grace prompted many wine drinkers to
switch to pinot noir, and I cant say I blame them. Too many
California merlots are boring at best and dreadful plonk at
worst.
2004 Duckhorn
Then last month I opened a bottle of Duckhorns 2004 Estate
Grown Napa Valley Merlot ($85), which we served at home with
filet of cod, slices of chorizo sausage and coco bean puree. I
chose merlot because the sharp, spicy chorizo needed a soft red
wine, and the cod needed something not too complex.
My first sip time-warped me right back to that dinner in
1980. The wine was luscious, its tannins solid but softening,
its fruit tremendous. Its bouquet smelled of the soil it came
from, along with sage and plum notes. Made from 95 percent
merlot and 5 percent cabernet franc, aged for 20 months in new
French oak, with 14.5 percent alcohol, its a wine that can age
but doesnt need five to 10 years like Petrus.
I also tried Duckhorns 2004 entry-level merlot ($52) with
a roast pork loin. While not as rich or complex as the first
wine, it was a solid, racy example of what made Duckhorns
merlots so appealing in the first place. (Duckhorn also makes
several single-estate merlots, along with Paraduxx, a zinfandel-
cabernet sauvignon blend, and Goldeneye, a pinot noir.)
Just to see what the competition was up to, I also tried a
Bookster Napa Valley Merlot 2005 ($35), about which I knew
nothing. It was massive, so tannic that even after two hours of
decanting, I thought I was drinking Indigo ink. Had it been the
only merlot I tasted this year, I might well have given up on
the varietal.
Yet as long as Duckhorn still bears the standard, I will
happily keep drinking the merlot.
(John Mariani writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The
opinions expressed are his own.)
