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WWWBW: 2002 Amaroo Merlot

Lenn Thompson of the cleverly named lenndevours concocted a spin-off of the popular Is My Blog Burning? event held every month in the food blogging community. His brain child is the more cumbersomely named "World Wide Wine Blogging Wednesday", and the idea is simple: everyone picks a wine in accordance with the theme (and a budget of $15), and writes an entry about it. The theme for this inaugral event is "New World Merlot not from the U.S."

I know little about New World merlot. Indeed, I know little about merlot in general. I am peculiarly unmoved by Bordeaux grapes, a fact which will probably cost me my wine writer cred at some point, though my love of German wines has enough snob appeal to redeem me. Well-meaning souls tell me I haven't had the right bottle yet. Gay and lesbian readers may read this familiar advice and roll their eyes, but in this case these folks might be right. At any rate, I'm not hostile to these grapes, just unimpressed as yet, except for the random anomaly.

So I went to a local wine shop (Vino! on Fourth Street in Berkeley, not my first choice, but I was in the area) and told the clerk what I wanted. He took a break from his sweeping and suggested a few options, and I settled on the bottle of Amaroo. I happily admit that this was because of the eye-catching label.

Details
2002 Amaroo Merlot, Southeast Australia, $8

Tasting Note
Pink rose-petal edges darken to a clear garnet in the center. Alcohol overwhelms the more subtle aromas, but one can make out green bell pepper and suggestions of butter and dust. Notable acidity and nonexistent tannins allow flavors of strawberry and cherry to come forward. A medium-long finish exposes hints of barnyard, bread and smoke at the very end.

Score
Fooled you! I don't do scores unless forced by an editor. I was tempted to write something like "Q out of *" (just as I was tempted to do a Wine X style tasting note: "Like Christina Ricci in That Darn Cat!"). I will say, however, that I remain unmoved by Bordeaux grapes.

Food

With this wine, Melissa and I enjoyed tomato-basil bruschetta with Cantal cheese and raspberries. The wine worked well with the the bruschetta, overwhelming even the potent garlic but then allowing it to surface again as the finish dissipated. I commented that the acidity in the wine and the tomatoes mostly cancelled each other out, like stereo signals where one sound wave is low as the other is high. The acidity in the wine was somewhat stronger than the tang of the tomatoes, which is what one wants in general (when the wine is less acidic than the food, it tastes flabby). The wine also performed admirably with the cheese, though it suffered at the hands of the sugar in the raspberries, as one imagines it would.

My notes remind me that its acidity makes it relatively food friendly, but its very low tannins would make it a weak partner to strong, fatty, grilled meats. This is not the wine to pull out with pan-seared steak, but it might be okay with lightly grilled chicken.

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