2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot

Norm's Tasting Notes
by: Norm Bentley
North Georgia Wine Advisor
normwine@bellsouth.net





2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot
#nb-26-10

Cold weather and steaks hot off the grill! What could be better? Last night we indulged ourselves with two inch thick, medium rare, filet mignons, and a bottle of 2007 Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot. Many of you know the Blackstone California Merlot as a good solid choice for a value priced red wine, but the Reserve is a real step up!

The 2007 Blackstone is still a touch on the young side, and should take another twelve to eighteen months for the tannins to mellow out. This is a Cabernet drinker's Merlot with big hearty flavors of cherry and dark berries. The nose is exciting and entices you to linger over the glass before your first sip. The flavor of the wine with the steak was magnificent, and made for a great match. The wine was aged for twenty months in oak, which should give it a long life. While quite good right now, it should be at its best by the fall of 2012.

The Reserve Merlot gets a score of 91 from the "Wine and Spirits" magazine with the following quote: "The moderate 2007 season created wines like this cool, mouthwatering red. It's neither fussy nor ambitious; it just tastes clean and bright, lasting with the flavor of cherries slowly ripened in the shade." This Merlot is predominantly from the Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys of Sonoma County, California.

Serve this wonderful Merlot with steaks, chops, or red sauced pasta. Norm's score is 90.

This year for Christmas the "Chardonnay Queen" and I will be spending the holiday at our little cottage by the sea in Matlacha, Florida. While there, we will be fishing and eating fish, and consuming great quantities of wine, mostly white. We will have, however, our traditional Christmas Dinner of Chateaubriand and a hearty red wine! There will not be another edition of "Norm's Tasting Notes" until our return at the beginning of the new year. Until then, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Price - $16 - $20
Score - 90

Norm

Norm's Tasting Notes can also be accessed at his Blog: http://normwine.blogspot.com/

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