Wait a Century for This Wine

Filed in archive Cheap Wines on July 2, 2006

I purchased a large bottle of Century Cellars BV 2002 Merlot a good number of months ago. Of all things, I found a coupon in the newspaper, so hey, I had to give it a try.

Since it is one of those whopper sized bottles, I figured I'd let it sit on the wine rack for awhile, maybe even save it for some time when we had people over for dinner.

Finally, I'm not exactly sure why, but I just got curious about this bottle and finally opened it up.

The Century Cellars web site provides the following tasting notes:

This Merlot expresses aroma of deep dark cherry, blueberry, and spice. This gorgeous montage of aroma is supported by densely textured, silky body that is soft and pleasing on the palate. The quality of this wine is further demonstrated by the harmonious balance of finely polished tannin and ripe and supple fruit. All of this is beautifully held together by a pleasant acidity that makes it a favored match for well-prepared food. This merlot is a natural for grilled meats, sausages, pasta with tomato sauce, and medium to bold cheese. Try this wine with, grilled pork tenderloin rubbed with Napa Valley whole-grain mustard and rosemary.

Here are my own tasting notes:

Ick and pa-too-y!

Seriously, I did try to like this wine. I mean, really, how can you mess up a Merlot? Well, I'm not sure how, but these folks did it. If I had to say exactly why I didn't like it, I think it was just not at all smooth or balanced, overly fruity even, and not in a good way.

The bottle is still sitting on my kitchen counter, waiting to get tossed. I feel badly because it is really rare that I toss out wine, but I can't even imagine cooking with this stuff.