Merlot making merry madness

Wines & Vines, Jan, 1997 by Richard Paul Hinkle

Marc Mondavi shrugged off his family's '84 vintage as "drying out and cedary," but his modesty did not lessen the fresh cranberry and earthy bell pepper neatly exhibited by the Charles Krug 1984 Merlot. "This wine came mostly from our Carneros vineyard, but 38% came from a vineyard here at the winery that always had a lot of shatter. We had to pull that vineyard out, it was so unproductive."

Clos Du Val's 1985 was grown entirely in the Stags Leap District and aged solely in Nevers oak, as is typical of Bernard Portet's Merlots. The wine was tightly-packed with bright, brittle berry and black currant fruit, with an edge of asparagus and green tannins in the finish. Like many '85s, it seemed quite muscular, and in need of a bit more time in bottle.

Jim Bundschu expressed the feelings of all those in attendance when he said, "This is the best flight of Merlots I've ever tasted! This is like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, the wines are so good and we're all here sharing our best." He went on to say that his father had been convinced to plant Merlot back in 1972 by Louis Martini. "Back then," said Jim, "no one knew what Merlot was." The 1985 Gundlach-Bundschu Merlot showed sturdy black currant and peppermint fruit that was bright, bold and bouncy with youth and energy, with highlights of black licorice. Just the right balance between weight and elegance.

The other '85 at the tasting came from Shafer Vineyard, and had its own peculiar tale of serendipitous advent. "We hadn't used much Cabernet franc in our Merlots before 1985," explained Doug Shafer, "but that year our franc was accidentally harvested two days before it was scheduled to be picked. I didn't have any empty tanks, but there was one tank that was half-full of Merlot. So I had 'em put the Cab franc in with the Merlot. Well, you can guess how that story ended . . . that tank was the killer wine of the year!" Typical of the region, the Shafer '85 is rich and robust, with packed-in black currant and green olive fruit that suggests it will be just as fresh and just as defined a decade from now or even two.

Ravenswood's 1986 Merlot was presented by Reed Foster, who suggested that this vintage was "lighter than usual." Maybe, but there was plenty of smoky green olive and green pepper fruit in a fluid, elegant style that any discussion of lightness (as with color in the discussion of Pinot noir) was effectively rendered irrelevant.

The pair of '87s present showed the natural harmonies of that vintage, which seemed to combine the masculine size of '85 with the feminine subtlety of the '86. The Markham showed sharply-defined green pepper, blackberry and menthol in a wine that has substance, but is fluid and silky enough that it's not overbearing. "This is the best Merlot that I never made," laughed Markham's winemaker Rob Hunter (who was still up the hill at Keenan in 1987). "Most of the fruit for this came from the winery's Calistoga Ranch, whose Merlot is fairly low in tannin, and about a quarter came from Oakville - the old Van Loben Sels property - which is pretty high in tannin." Balance. Balance.