May 7, 2007
Raymond Estates R Collection Merlot
Raymond Estates R Collection, Merlot, 2004, California
I was always under the impression that Merlot was the red wine to drink. That was until I watched the movie Sideways, in which the protagonist and wine connoisseur played by Paul Giamatti belts out this memorable line:
If anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who learned that Merlot was no longer the it wine; after the movie was released sales of Merlot began to suffer, a result of the so-called Sideways Effect. But regardless, it was time for me to indulge my taste buds with a bottle of the now shunned red stuff. I found it to be similar to the Cabernet, but with a little less punch. However the bottle I bought had a label that looked to be straight out of 80s glamour — perhaps fitting for a wine whose time, it seems, has passed.
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