#4 - Full Circle Merlot

As we learned in the last post, Full Circle Cabernet was the Oldsmobile of Cabernets... solid, dependable, and not very exciting. I wondered aloud if the Full Circle Merlot I was opening would be more of the same.

Ugh! Even when I am not fond of a wine's distinctive flavor notes, it's usually drinkable, especially after I've had a glass of good wine and am just looking for a second glass to lull me off to sleep. However, there is something insidious lurking at the tail end of this wine. You take a sip, and it's kind of dull, and then as you swallow it down and the aftertaste hits your tongue... bam, there it is. A coating of yuck.

Out of my devotion to the craft, I took several more sips to try to figure out where it went wrong and what that aftertaste was. I even waited a day and took another sip, hoping that my taste buds had failed me. No, it was still there. I know that I have sensitive taste buds, so I poured a little for my housemate, who generally categorizes wines as "red" and "not red." (Occasionally, he humors me.) He took a sip, and as the aftertaste washed over him, a notable cringe formed on his face.

"That's... not so pleasant!"

Me: "Try more!"

He gamely took another sip, and identified the yucky part as the aftertaste. But neither of us could put words to it.

In the end, I decided that it had a faint taste of hard boiled egg, or rather it tasted the way that hard boiled eggs smell. This wine can't even serve as a second glass, and am I tentative about using it to cook with. I may toss a bit into a pot with a piece of meat that I am not particularly attached to and see if it works there. If so, the remaining two thirds of the bottle will be cooking wine, and I will never go there again.

#2 - McMannis Vineyards Merlot

I have gotten this wine for $12.00 at a speciality store and a much more reasonable $7.99 at Liquors 44, the local liquor store chain.

This wine actually tastes like leather and tobacco. It tastes like being in the back of a dark bar with menacing men with bellies and pricy gear. The sharp tobacco hits you as you take the first sip, and then mellows out before smoothing into a leathery finish. If you're not of the leather daddy admiring persuasion, think of genuine leather new car smell (no phalates for you, thank you!) mixing in with an end of the work day cigarette. I don't smoke and I can appreciate this wine, because the buzz is much more pleasant.

This cheap wine is not for the wine beginner, but might appeal nicely to a single malt scotch drinker.