This wine attracted me because of the artistically designed bottle and the fact that it was from Chile. I have never drunk wine from Chile. My initial interest soon waned after I tasted the wine.

Initially, the Merlot looked promising. Immediately upon opening the bottle, a rich plum based odor came out.  It seemed like this would be a flavor rich and dense drink. Produced with grapes from a vineyard just outside Santiago made the wine seem even more alluring. And after the winning Shiraz I enjoyed the day before, I finally thought my wine selection skills were getting better. But turns out, the Merlot had a great nose and little taste.

It looked like a raspberry cordial and I inhaled scents of bananas, plums and pears. A quick swish around the glass and flowers and pears were added to the bouquet. Another swish and I was back in my childhood ordering rhubarb and custard hard candies at the local sweet shop in England’s northern countryside. That was it, I was ready to enjoy the taste.

Then everything went sour. Well, more precisely everything went bland. The Merlot had a reasonable yet loose structure with subtle tannins. The beginning of the sip was smooth and slightly creamy and there was a dry finish that was not overly sharp. But that was it really. Gone were the pears and bananas, gone were the hard candies from my youth. It was boring, a drink to drink for the sake of drinking.

This would be (if I ever decided to place it on my wine rack in the future) a pizza wine for me. Its plain taste would work well with a spicy pepperoni pizza as it would not interfere with or even challenge the taste.

There is something lacking in this wine for me but I am not experienced enough in vino to put my finger on it. It is very easy to drink, like I am drinking looking for that missing part thinking if I just keep going it will turn up at the bottom of the glass. It did not.

The Merlot still lacks density and structure for this Cabernet lover. I think I should keep a bottle of Merlot on the wine rack for guests that claim to like red wine but perhaps are not expecting or even want a very rigid heavy bodied red like a Cab. Well, then again, I am sure there are better options out there.