MD Merlot 2024
On October 4, 2024, we did a Maryland merlot vertical tasting with food pairing. Merlot is commonly found in Bordeaux, France on the left bank but also in most other wine making countries like Chile, Australia and South Africa. It ripens to a blue color on the vine and has a deep, purple color in the glass typically, which is why it is named after the French word for blackbird. It is typically medium - medium-bodied, medium tannin, and medium acidity. While less ripe varietals can show some red fruit, fully ripe merlot is commonly known for its dark plum and blackberry flavors. For this tasting, we had three Maryland merlots from Bordelelau Winery, 61 Vineyards and Harford Winery. A lot of Maryland wineries aren't making single varietal merlots but we have noticed it growing in popularity more recently so we wanted to highlight a few wineries we think are making pretty great representations of it currently. For the food pairings menu, we had open-faced, beef wellington bites, bacon and cheese sliders - half with gouda and BBQ sauce, half with cheddar and ranch - gouda and bacon stuffed mushrooms, roasted beet and fennel salad with red wine vinaigrette, kale chips, crispy prosciutto, prosciutto wrapped, gorgozola stuffed dates, hummus, dill havarti, brie and Crow Vineyards' barbera cheddar. The thing with merlot is with the low tannins and acidity, it pairs well with meat, but typically leaner meat since it won't cut through high levels of fat very well. So the ground meat for the burgers was 90/10 and the beef for the wellington bites was filet. So all that said, let's get into the evening. We started by doing bottle review podasts for all three so check those out as they go up on the site, Spotify and Apple! Bordeleau's merlot was very earthy and complex, with notes of plum and mushroom. It paired best with the beef wellington bites, beet salad, hummus, gouda, brie and kale chips. The 61 Vineyards had more red fruit on it, baking spices and was a little lighter bodied so it favored the gouda/BBQ sliders, prosciutto, beets, dill havarti and the barbera cheddar. Lastly, the Harford merlot was somewhere in between the two with leather, plum, cherry and dried herbs. It was the best pairing with the dates, stuffed mushrooms, cheddar/ranch sliders, brie beets and kale chips. Maryland is doing some great things with merlot, not just blending it with other reds so get out to your local winery and give some a taste for yourself.
