WWWBW:Merlot

I almost didn't make it. When Lenn from Lenndevours first mentioned the idea of World Wide Wine Blogging Wednesday, a wine tasting blog event, I started sharpening my corkscrew. I love wine and I love such blogging community events (otherwise I wouldn't have though of IMBB, right?), so this was a the perfect match. Nonetheless, I almost forgot about it: work, forums and last preparation for some long needed vacation all distracted me. Lucky for me that I checked Lenn's page today and saw his WWWBW post. I needed a bottle of new world Merlot (but not US), for under 15 euro (or dollars?) ASAP! In a hurry I rushed to the best wine stocked supermarket. Loads of Cabernets, Shiraz, Cabernet-Merlot... even Malbec, but where the heck were the Merlots? I finally found one single bottle matching Lenn's chosen theme: a Las Garzas 2002 Colchagua Valley Merlot from Viña Bisquerett, Chile, for 6 Euros.

I'd love to say this was a pleasant surprise, but far from it. I actually had good hopes. The Colchagua valley is a pretty good wine making area in Chile, just south of the better known Maipo valley, and its Merlots have a decent reputation. I'll try another winery next time, I guess.

The wine itself had a lively ruby color in the glass. The aroma showed the first problems: cherry and cassis first, but reminding me of overcooked fruit rather than fresh one, followed by a very light and not too clean notes of flowers and sweet spices. This lack of freshness was even more evident once I started drinking it. The wine was totally unbalanced, with much alcohol and very little acidity to speak of. To round things up it also had one of the shortest finishes I've experienced in the last few years :-(. Oh well, I hope everyone else made a luckier choice than mine!