Australian Merlot-A future in WA?

[ACG]

Spent my afternoon at the WA Fine Wine Coast Roadshow today and in amongst a cavalcade of some of Australia's best wines, came three enjoyable reds that stood out for one particular reason-They were Merlots.

To me Australian Merlot has always been relegated to little more than a blending agent, with even the best wines failing to really excite in the way that Shiraz, Cabernet or even Pinot does.
Admittedly, this result is consistent with the fact that few makers really take Merlot seriously as a stand alone varietal, let alone as a premier red. Plus the plantings of the grape are nowhere near as mature as, for example, Shiraz, and rarely given the love that Pinot receives.

So it was with a little excitement today that I found three merlots that I quite liked, and would recommend, at prices that seemed all together almost reasonable. These wines where definitely medium to full bodied wines, with enough tannin, acid and fruit flavours to signal an intention to be much more than soft, mediocre wines.
The wines where
2001 Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Merlot
2001 Plantagenet 'Rocky Horror' Merlot
2002 Higher Plane Margaret River merlot (To be released soon).

Whilst not blow me down amazing, these wines performed much better than a handful of WA Shiraz's, (Such as the 2001 Xanadu shiraz-i Still dont like it) and got me to thinking that maybe WA could be turning its hand to supreme quality Merlot, rather than jumping on the Shiraz bandwagon. Not to say I don't enjoy WA shiraz (I loved the 02 Voyager and 01 Cape Mentelle for example), but perhaps WA Merlot could be kicking some serious goals & arise to the status as the other 'Big red' (After Cabernet and Shiraz) without much difficulty.

So what do you think? What are your favourite Australian merlots? Could Merlot be more than mass market 'Soft' red or a blending agent? Bordeaux's Right Bank does it, and the American's are having a go, but can WA do it too?

Junior

[Grant Dodd]

ACG,

What Merlot does have going for it is wonderful PR; someone out there has managed to create it's image as soft,plummy,rounded and easy drinking. In my experience it rarely is,but I'm really happy to hear you've found some good stuff. I think Marg River with its ability to fully ripen grapes is a perfect place to start,and it seems that maritime areas show the best examples of Merlot the world over. I think I'll head up to Bris this week to have a taste for myself.


Cheers

[Red Bigot]

Junior,

I tend to agree with you, I don't find many merlots I like, but most of the small amount of merlot I have in my cellar is from Brookland Valley. I have some 95, 96 and 97 that are still in good form, it is one of the few merlots I've found that will cellar well. Their Cab-merlot is pretty good too.

[TORB]

Andrew,

There were some interesting (because they were unusual by Oz standards) Merlots at the show but none that I would think warrants getting excited about.

The only one of the three I tried that you listed was the Ribbon Vale and i was completely underwhelmed by it. Yes it was different but for my taste it was ordinary. Full notes to follow. Pity I didn't see you there.

[MartinC]

Ric, do try the Cimicky Signature or the Evans & Tates. U will be impressed

[Irregular]

Merlot is a variety I have little experience with, probably due to the fact that there aren’t many produced. Three I’ve had recently which have really impressed are the Irvine, a 90, which was excellent; a 98 Leconfield, included in a masked lineup a few months back of varietals and was considered by all to be great (a one off?); the third was a 2000 Haan last week, made by Jim Irvine, served blind, I was convinced it was B’sa Shiraz, a bad indicator for the Merlot perhaps, but it was divine.

Unrelated to wine, having real problems with our PC at present and would be grateful for any assistance. Problem one, we keep getting ‘hit’ with these pop-ups, how does one ‘kill’ them? Problem two, in a PC clean-up yesterday, I’ve managed to get rid of all graphics, oops, can I get them back somehow?

Cheers
Ian

[Murray]

Ric,

On the RibbonVale I went back to my notes and it's probably worth noting that my bottle have been opened an part poured on the Monday evening and I tried it 2pm Tuesday. The extar airing time may have opened up the wine.

It had great palate structure, balance and long finish. It's fruit was a touch sweet but the structure was the telling thing. I was happy with it, particularly at around $30.

Back to the original thread, I'm not sure. Most Australian merlots I've had around the place have been lacking character. On the other hand there have been some have been great. Actually I've experienced both with various vintages of the Yarra Yering Merlot which is not comforting in a $100+ wine.

In regards to WA there was plenty of other reds also delivered well on the quality front, although at higher prices. in the Shiraz the Houghton Gladstone and Leeuwin Shiraz were very enjoyable.

I can't say that WA is the saviour for Merlot on this limited experience, but it's worth watching.

[fred]

To me Australian Merlot has always been relegated to little more than a blending agent, with even the best wines failing to really excite in the way that Shiraz, Cabernet or even Pinot does.
So what do you think? What are your favourite Australian merlots? Could Merlot be more than mass market 'Soft' red or a blending agent? Bordeaux's Right Bank does it, and the American's are having a go, but can WA do it too?

Junior

Junior,

For "straight merlot" in Oz look at:-

1. Irvine Grand merlot (but pricey)

2. Yarra Yering (very variable with vintage)

3. the very early Evans & Tate margaret River merlot (circa 1990 with a heavy embossed grey label)

That 1990 E &T made me look up andtake notice but it has been dropped as a straight wine of top line performance - perhaps because people did not understand it? I finished mine in about 1998/9 so don't know how they would have stood up - but were dense and interesting - sure to perplex most straight Oz palates.

Most of the straight merlot grown here is off young vines and is used as softening calibre grape eg Wynns for the red stripe which was originally just CS & shiraz. My oenological friends suggest that it is afiarly robust grape - easy to grow, and hence attractive.

Of the blends using merlot the obvious standouts are:-

1. Cullens in their flagship red

2. Petaluma

3. Mt Mary (downlisted only because the merlot % is usually less than above).

A numberof rightbankers as you point out are predominantly merlot - and then there is Petrus (and largely Le Pin) with considerable subtlety and depth.

Other Bordeaux you might note with quality significantly good merlot-based include Ch Magdeleine & Cantemerle.
The 82 Magdeleine is still averitable monster! The 83 Cantemerle is due for consumption - and at least one is nominated for the coming weekend....

[stuwatson]

Heres somthing to think about
some viticulturalists think that maybe the reason that WA merlots are so good , particularly southern plantings is that the merlot is actually cab franc

more than a few people think this
well in WA anyway

[Davo]

Hmmm!

I seem to have memories of TORB enjoying a Perth Hills Merlot on his 2nd trip to Perth in 40 years. Did not pick the variety at all if my poor dim memory serves me.

A big wine, heaps of body and flavour, good balance and length.

Hainault 1998.

As for the rest you mention I personally think they fall between the wimps juice and cordial categories.

Just my 2c.

[Ian S]

Merlot is a variety I have little experience with, probably due to the fact that there aren’t many produced. Three I’ve had recently which have really impressed are the Irvine, a 90, which was excellent; a 98 Leconfield, included in a masked lineup a few months back of varietals and was considered by all to be great (a one off?); the third was a 2000 Haan last week, made by Jim Irvine, served blind, I was convinced it was B’sa Shiraz, a bad indicator for the Merlot perhaps, but it was divine.

Unrelated to wine, having real problems with our PC at present and would be grateful for any assistance. Problem one, we keep getting ‘hit’ with these pop-ups, how does one ‘kill’ them? Problem two, in a PC clean-up yesterday, I’ve managed to get rid of all graphics, oops, can I get them back somehow?

Cheers
Ian

Ian
No expert on this, but deleting your "cookies" may help. You can happily delete all of them (barring the index file, which you won't be allowed to delete). They are not needed by your PC, as they're essentially a bookmark to sites you've visited, in theory allowing quicker access next time you visit. However they can be manipulated by the unscrupulous to keep sending pop-ups even when visiting other sites.

You can usually find the cookies off your c:\windows folder.

Not sure I can help on the 2nd point, though if you have a "rewind" facility on the PC, this may (if miracles really do happen) be able to restore your PC to prior to the change. If you think you've physically deleted them, you can check the recycle bin & they might still be there.

Hope this is of some help

Ian

[Irregular]

Thanks Ian, I'll look at it tonight, but I suspect it's gone .... I can see these little fella's at work, sadly, not from home.

Ian

[Wizz]

It had great palate structure, balance and long finish. It's fruit was a touch sweet but the structure was the telling thing. I was happy with it, particularly at around $30.

Just back from the WA tasting now, and I marked the Ribbon Vale Merlot pretty hard. I also found the fruit sweet - sickly sweet. To me it tasted like Grenadine.

Oh well, horses for courses I guess,

cheers

Andrew

[Murray]

I marked the Ribbon Vale Merlot pretty hard

Andrew,

I guess there's no accounting for taste, after all, you do live in Brisbane.

[Wizz]

I marked the Ribbon Vale Merlot pretty hard

Andrew,

I guess there's no accounting for taste, after all, you do live in Brisbane.

Right now I need a smiley poking its tongue out......

I suspect the difference lies in how long the bottle was opened, sounds like the one you tasted had improved a lot.