I know it is all in fun But why the name change if it is all in fun? Sorry if I offended anyone! I'll try to withhold my opinions from now on.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: NewbieWino,

Newbie,

For me, wine is fun. But, you'll rapidly realize that for some on the boards, it's not really so much about fun as it is about trying to belittle others who dare to have an opinion that runs counter to the established ones.

Hang around, you'll see what I mean.

Cheers!

Thanks for the tip!! That's ashame that some people have to be like that.

quote:

Originally posted by indybob:
Newbie,

For me, wine is fun. But, you'll rapidly realize that for some on the boards, it's not really so much about fun as it is about trying to belittle others who dare to have an opinion that runs counter to the established ones.

Hang around, you'll see what I mean.

Cheers!

...and no, merlot does not go with key lime

You can go far for $125 with Napa merlot. I have had a few bottles of Pahlmeyer, and I think the following Napa merlots are on par, for roughly half the price (or less):

Pride Mountain Napa/Somoma County
Shafer
Lewis

You could also color outside the box, and show up with a Justin Justification. It is blended with Cabernet Franc (mostly cab franc, as I recall) but it's my favorite merlot-derived California wine. Of the three listed above, the Pride is more of a "wow" wine. Really bright, rich, vibrant. Shafer is darker, deeper. Lewis is more like the Pride.

xhoser - haven't checked this board for a few days and this thread's taken an interesting side road. At any rate, to your question as to how old a CA merlot I'd drink - the 1994 Pahlmeyer is drinking spectacularly well right now. And it's not drinking like an "old" wine that has curiosity value, but as a very good "mature" wine. This isn't a real scientific distinction, but what I mean is that it isn't showing just whispers of what it might have been, with a very lean acidity and nuance of secondary aromatics and flavors that are clearly fading. Quite the contrary - it's drinking as I would love all wines to drink. Still retaining some fruit, but showing much more than simple fresh fruit and chocolate and licorice and woody spice - it's got some older aromatics and flavors of tobacco, some cedary notes, a mix of dried and fresh dark cherry, just great wine. In fact, about a year ago I had it side by side with the Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red and it was clearly the better wine. Definitely show it against a right bank Bordeaux. It won't be the same, but it will be of equal stature.

But I'm not selling Pahlmeyer and I've stopped buying them mostly because their environmental problems gave me an easy excuse to cull them. Some of the other suggestions given in this thread are good too. If you can get a Foley, that would be a good on to put in.

More interesting might be something from Washington. Merlot from Bordeaux is really not much like merlot from CA, but merlot from WA is something yet again. Andrew Will has some older merlots that might be interesting to explore. He's stopped making varietal bottlings as far as I know, but that's recent and you can still pick up a 98 or 99. Leonetti is great but hard to find. Those merlots tend to be a bit less soft than much from CA. There's a wine made by Michel Roland called Pedestal, it's made as part of a WA project with a number of winemakers - it's one of the softest and most plush merlots I've had from WA. To me it shows the touch of the winemaker more than anything. Good wine but it's only been out a few years and I have no idea how it will age. Anyhow, let us know what you end up with and how it comes out.

The best Merlot I have tasted was made by Leonetti. It is in the price range you are looking for. It is a big wine, but has great structure, a very serious Merlot from Washington. I tried the 2003, and have a bottle of the 2004 that I am hanging on to for the time being. I don't know how hard it is to find. I picked up a bottle when I was in Walla Walla. It wasn't hard to find there, but you won't see it sitting on the shelf in most wine stores. You may have to order it online. I suspect the 2005 is very good too, but young.

Thanks for all the input. For my upcoming wine event the theme is California merlot so I am limited to the Golden State. I am going to try and find an older Pahlmeyer and go from there. I will look at Pride as well.

Cheers

I just bought a 1997 Pahlmeyer merlot for $130. I hope it's good. The bad news is I'll be sharing with 7 other wine lovers. The good news is that there should be about 10 other great bottles of wine including some 1982 Bordeaux. Event is August 6th so I'll let you know how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:
I just bought a 1997 Pahlmeyer merlot for $130. I hope it's good. The bad news is I'll be sharing with 7 other wine lovers. The good news is that there should be about 10 other great bottles of wine including some 1982 Bordeaux. Event is August 6th so I'll let you know how it goes.

What is the event? I have a nice Cali Merlot I think would impress that no one else would bring.

quote:

Originally posted by Sticky2:

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:
I just bought a 1997 Pahlmeyer merlot for $130. I hope it's good. The bad news is I'll be sharing with 7 other wine lovers. The good news is that there should be about 10 other great bottles of wine including some 1982 Bordeaux. Event is August 6th so I'll let you know how it goes.

What is the event? I have a nice Cali Merlot I think would impress that no one else would bring.

Sticky,

It is a small private wine group that I belong to that meets once every six weeks or so in a restaurant of choice for lunch at 12:30 pm with the event lasting until about 6:00 pm. I got invited into the group as a guest and then eventually a member. Currently they have more members than necessary so there are no openings. If there are any offlines in the area we should get together and do our own thing. I've been checking the board but don't see much going on in the OC.

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:

quote:

Originally posted by Sticky2:

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:
I just bought a 1997 Pahlmeyer merlot for $130. I hope it's good. The bad news is I'll be sharing with 7 other wine lovers. The good news is that there should be about 10 other great bottles of wine including some 1982 Bordeaux. Event is August 6th so I'll let you know how it goes.

What is the event? I have a nice Cali Merlot I think would impress that no one else would bring.

Sticky,

It is a small private wine group that I belong to that meets once every six weeks or so in a restaurant of choice for lunch at 12:30 pm with the event lasting until about 6:00 pm. I got invited into the group as a guest and then eventually a member. Currently they have more members than necessary so there are no openings. If there are any offlines in the area we should get together and do our own thing. I've been checking the board but don't see much going on in the OC.

I feel so rejected. I'm starting my own group.

quote:

Originally posted by Sticky2:

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:

quote:

Originally posted by Sticky2:

quote:

Originally posted by xhoser:
I just bought a 1997 Pahlmeyer merlot for $130. I hope it's good. The bad news is I'll be sharing with 7 other wine lovers. The good news is that there should be about 10 other great bottles of wine including some 1982 Bordeaux. Event is August 6th so I'll let you know how it goes.

What is the event? I have a nice Cali Merlot I think would impress that no one else would bring.

Sticky,

It is a small private wine group that I belong to that meets once every six weeks or so in a restaurant of choice for lunch at 12:30 pm with the event lasting until about 6:00 pm. I got invited into the group as a guest and then eventually a member. Currently they have more members than necessary so there are no openings. If there are any offlines in the area we should get together and do our own thing. I've been checking the board but don't see much going on in the OC.

I feel so rejected. I'm starting my own group.

There's always the Salt Lake Offline, come on out in October, and bring the Merlot.

quote:

Originally posted by Roentgen Ray:
The best Merlot I have tasted was made by Leonetti. It is in the price range you are looking for. It is a big wine, but has great structure, a very serious Merlot from Washington. I tried the 2003, and have a bottle of the 2004 that I am hanging on to for the time being. I don't know how hard it is to find. I picked up a bottle when I was in Walla Walla. It wasn't hard to find there, but you won't see it sitting on the shelf in most wine stores. You may have to order it online. I suspect the 2005 is very good too, but young.

Agreed. Leonetti makes excellent Merlot. As a more available option, however, and nearly as impressive, is Woodward Canyon Merlot. At around $40, it's as good as you'll find coming out of Washington (well, maybe, but definitely in the ranks of Leonetti, Betz (Merlot-based wines, no straight Merlot that I know of), Seven Hills, Northstar, etc.).

Merlot can definitely achieve greatness.