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Price: about $25
Recommended by: the wonderful folks at Chateau Ste Michelle winery, Woodinville, WA (go visit!)
Comments: What an evening! We polished off a bottle of white Italian Vermentino (Rocca di Montemassi) while making a fabulous batch of mushroom risotto. The wine was exceptional, but we can't blog about it because we finished it so damn quickly! With the actual risotto (did we mention it was amazing?!?) we drank this Merlot, which is quite dear to us. Back in September 2007, we visited the winery and purchased this bottle for a special occasion. Rob has been hard at work for the past few weeks, finishing up his first book, and while it's not quite done yet we're celebrating the near end of many years of hard work. This wine was an appropriate celebratory libation. Wine Spectator gave it 90 points back in the day, and it's only gotten better with time. Rich, earthy flavors dominated by plum, vanilla, and mocha, with hints of chocolate. YUM! We wish we had another bottle!
Rating: 8/10
Price: $13.50 @ Solera (Roslindale, MA)
Recommended by: wine seller at Solera
Comments: This here is a big, round, juicy Merlot. You wanna go out and get yourself a bottle. Honest. For the price, it's hard to find a wine this good. R Collection is 84% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Cabernet Franc. This blend lends itself to a complexity that belies the sub-$15 price. Flavors of plum, blueberry, and raspberry explode on the palate, followed by pepper, vanilla, and chocolate for a long finish. We had this with eel and the pairing was ideal, although it would go great with any meat for you carnivores. Rob can't wait to get another bottle and not share it with Karie! Sideways be damned, we loves us some good Merlot.
Rating: 8/10
Price: $8.99 @ Gary's Liquors
Recommended by: a Wine Spectator "Best Value" wine
Comments: Can we agree with Wine Spectator two nights in a row? Say it isn't so! This wine is fantastic -- it earned every one of its 90 points. We had tried the Grand Estates Merlot before and enjoyed it, but this year's vintage is much better. Flavors of cherry and chocolate dominate the palate along with a healthy dose of blueberry, all brought together by a surprisingly long, smooth finish. For the price, this wine can't be beat. We'll be getting another bottle or two for the shelf soon!
Rating: 7.75/10
Price: $5.99 @ Luke's Liquors
Recommended by: Robert and Marjorie at Wine-O-Rama
Comments: We saw this wine near the checkout lane at Luke's and remembered that Robert and Marjorie had raved about this wine. For $6, it was definitely worth a try (what's another bottle in our already full shopping basket?)! After spending way too much money at Target and Luke's tonight, we opened this bottle as soon as we got home, and toasted another Red Sox victory over the Evil Empire. We were definitely not disappointed (in the wine or the game)! It has very distinct, bold raspberry and cherry flavors and is a bit sweeter than many Merlots. It's also much smoother than we expected. If you see this in your local wine shop, pick this one up!
Rating: 7.25/10
Price: $6.98 @ Gary's Liquors
Recommended by: the price
Comments: The best thing we can say about this wine is that it is worth the price! Of course, it didn't cost very much. However, we're stuck on a troubling question: is it any better than 2 buck Chuck? It's a toss up. This wine is your basic merlot. The taste is pleasant and simple, but it certainly won't blow you away. It's a good pizza wine that we'd consider having again, but we're not in a hurry to do so.
Rating: 6/10
Price: $8.99 @ Gary's Liquors
Recommended by: great price, and we wanted to try another Washington State merlot.
Comments: For the price, this is a great wine. In fact, we were pleasantly surprised. However, after we found out that this wine is produced by our friends from the Ste Michelle winery, it made perfect sense. We've enjoyed all of their wines that we've tasted. This is not a hugely complex wine, but it has a nice cherry flavor and a smooth, pleasing finish. If you don't usually drink red wine, this might be a good one to start with. Order some pizza and enjoy.
Rating: 6.75/10
We're back down to Planet Earth after enjoying a few really nice, expensive
wines over the past few weeks. First
of all, Karie had an article published,
so we celebrated with our favorite wine
from our trip to Napa Valley -- Artesa
Reserve Merlot. Then, we traveled to
Philly for the Thanksgiving holiday, where
we enjoyed three great Napa Cabernets --
Franciscan, Robert Mondavi, and Hess
Collection. Yummy! We loved all of the
Cabs, but Hess is still our favorite. Then
we returned to Boston and celebrated
our 5-year anniversary with a bottle of
Mount Veeder Cabernet. Since the
winery is near Hess on Mount Veeder
Road, we were curious to taste the
difference between the two. The Mount
Veeder was amazing, with an interesting
chocolatey, earthy, tobaccoey
flavor, with hints of pencil lead. In fact,
we liked it so much that we bought another 
bottle to save for another year or two. Let's see
if it will last that long! We're going to have to
kick our habit of drinking expensive wines or
else head to law school.
Price: $9.99 @ Blanchard's JP
Recommended by: no one -- we just wanted to try a different Merlot.
Comments: This South African merlot is nothing spectacular. It has a fairly mellow flavor, with your expected berry taste. It's smooth with a decent finish. I don't know if we will be running out to get this again, but it was enjoyable.
Ratings: 6/10
Price: about $25 
