Happy Friday to everyone, I hope it has been a good one so far..

 One of my recent wine tastings led me to a Merlot made by BV Coastal Estates.  I had tried their Cabernet Sauvignon a while back, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try out their Merlot.  This 2009 had a medium purple color to it, with hints of spicy black currant on the nose.  On the palate mellow tannins and acids with ripe dark fruit and a hint of toasty oak.  Nothing too overpowering about this wine, and it was not as oaky as I would have expected from a California Merlot.  This was a nice easy drinking wine.  Now compared to the Duck Pond Merlot I tried earlier, there were some differences. The BV Merlot was a very mellow wine, whereas the Duck Pond had much more structure in the way of tannin & acids, and a more pronounced but not overpowering oak.  I personally like wines with more structure, so I would choose the Duck Pond over the BV.  However, if you are not in the mood for a big tannic wine, than the more mellow BV would be more your style.  These two wines are of course from different regions; the BV from California and Duck Pond from Washington, so right away you get totally different terroir, and of course different wine making styles from each vintner.  And in the end, it really all depends on what style/region that you prefer.  Either way, both wines are great for the price, and you won’t be disappointed.

 A couple other bits to pass along…

The SF Gate has a great list of Napa Valley Zinfandel to recommend.

A cinema company has just come up with something inconceivable, Princess Bride wine.

Cheers,

Seth