Californian Merlot Online - By: Days of

A week ago my lover returned home armed with a bottle of Canyon Creek Californian Merlot which she'd purchased on discount in the local supermarket. I loved it so much I decided to have a look at Californian wines available on the web.

The vino above was exactly the kind of wine I enjoy - Red, brimming with fruit with soft tannins, a bit of vanilla (just a bit) plus a longish finish. It was great by itself however when we added an evening meal of pasta with a homemade sundried tomato and pesto sauce it was even better. For the modest ammount this jem sold for it was certainly as good as many more expensive european merlot wines I've enjoyed.

One or two facts from Wikipedia: California is actually three quarters the size of France and as a region it counts for around 90% of wine production in the US. It is also 1 / 3 larger than Australia and were it an independent country it would be the earth's fourth most productive wine producer - Not really a surprise then that some terrific wine emanates from California.

You might beinclined to think of California as a decidedly balmy and sun blessed place though actually it has a very varied climate and geography meaning that a similarly multitude of terroirs can be discovered among the resultant varied growing conditions. This has resulted in a great variety of grape varieties being established and also a great diversity of small boutique winemakers and bigger mass market concerns have taken benefit from the regions potential.
In spite of somewhat of a checkered past apparently Merlot from California is undoubtedly the most popular red wine style in the usa . This is a little strange as Merlot from this part of the world has received a savaging from critics beyond the US since its heyday within the late 80's and 90's when it was hailed as the next great thing. While some winemakers have graduated to blending merlot as well as to other varieties altogether it remains a grape to be reckoned with. Australian shiraz has endured a similar kangaroo court in recent times but hasn't lost its popularity with the people so to speak.
Just maybe the popularity for this variety in the sunshine state has been massively affected by the American taste and as any smart entrepreneur will tell you - give them what they want. And what they want is an easy drinking, unchallenging red wine. Some unkind writers have suggested that the very easy to pronounce, French sounding name has something to do with it.
Obviously you truly will need to go by personal taste and while I'm certainly not flying a flag for merlot Californian or otherwise, the specific bottle that started me off here ticked all of my boxes. I'm not a highly qualified expert with an exquisitely developed palate but I really know what I like and when I buy wine online I buy a style or particular wine that I've tried and liked.

A good location to find Californian as well as European or New World Merlot is at http://www.wineday.co.uk which is a web-based store dealing with a good number of highly reputed wine merchants and therefore offering a great comparison and choice. Just because Miles from Sideways isn't drinking Merlot doesn't mean you can't !

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