International Merlot Day

November 7th was Merlot Day and I missed it! Maybe it's a sign of how far the grape has fallen since its heyday in the 1990s. There are good Merlots out there, and they tend to be reasonably priced compared to today's hot wine, Pinot Noir, or to some of the other Bordeaux grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Cab Franc.

Here are a few places in Sonoma County to get your Merlot fix.

Sonoma County Merlot near harvest time

Benziger
Producing Merlot from the $20 distributed version to a couple biodynamic single-vineyard wines.

Chateau St. Jean
They have their inexpensive "grocery store" California Merlot plus a couple others ranging up to $90.

Gundlach Bundschu
Merlot was their best-known wine a few decades ago, and they still make it structured rather than soft and fruity. There's a Sonoma Valley bottling, an estate Merlot, plus a red blend, the Mountain Cuvee, that's largely Merlot.

Kenwood
A winery with a history with Merlot. The front vineyard between the winery buildings and the highway were once planted to Merlot, but that's been torn out because who wants Merlot? The new owners and winemaker have several available, including the inexpensive grocery store bottling, plus a red blend from the famous Jack London vineyard that is half Merlot.

Ledson
They make a lot of different wines, including at least four Merlots.

Matanzas Creek
In the early 1980s, Chardonnay and Merlot put them on the map. Today they make several Sauvignon Blancs, Chardonnays, and Merlots, plus a red blend that's primarily Merlot.

Merriam
The home to several Merlot wines, including a Right Bank red blend.

Roth
The focus is on Bordeaux wines at this Foley-owned winery, including a couple of Merlots.

St. Francis
In the 1970s, the founder of the winery planted the first Merlot in Sonoma Valley, 60 acres. Planting that large a vineyard of Merlot probably seemed risky back then. Today the winery has several Merlot bottlings. They are still structured, ageable wines.

This is only a small sample, as there are dozens more producing Merlot. Next door in Napa you might try Duckhorn, Markham, Pride, Rutherford Hill, St. Supery, or Trefethen.