#MerlotMe
It’s #MerlotMe folks, and I have a few more wines to tell you about!
1st I suppose I should explain #MerlotMe. October is International Merlot Month and during this month lovers of Merlot unite and share their favorite Merlots and Pairings via social media, using the hashtag #MerlotMe.
These wines were received as media samples for #MerlotMe. No other compensation was received, and all opinions remain my own.
The Wines
This year I received 3 samples from 2 different wineries, both from California.
Decoy 2019 Merlot
This wine is a second brand from Duckhorn, the well-establish Napa Valley wine brand. Duckhorn wines will set your wallet back a bit. In 1985 they founded Decoy to create wines at a more affordable price to the marketplace.
The Decoy label features art within art. The painting by Michael Allard is of a pintail duck decoy that was carved in the 1930s by premier carver Richard Janson.
Today Dana Epperson leads the winemaking team at Decoy. She is a 3rd generation Sonoma Native who has worked at Ferrari-Carano, Edna Valley Vineyard, & Artesa before joining the Duckhorn team.
The 2019 Decoy Merlot is 80% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. It aged 12 months in French Oak (35% new).
The winery became a publicly traded company in March of 2021.
The label says California because the grapes sourced from this wine come from Sonoma County (60%), the Central Coast (18%), and Mendocino County (8%).
This wine is best after it opens up a bit. I got notes of blueberry, black plum, black cherry, chocolate, coffee and spice on the nose. On the palate the fruit stay dominant with the spice notes rounding it out.
13.9% abv $25.00 SRP
Markham Wines
Markham sent me two samples. But before we get into those, let me tell you a bit about the winery. You see they have a bit of a story.
Markham is one of the longest-continuously running wineries in Napa Valley.
Their history
In 1852 Jean Laurent left Bordeaux to find Gold in California. He established one of the first wineries in Napa Valley in 1874, building a wooden winery that was later replaced with a stone winery.
The winery was shuttered during prohibition. Jean Laurent passed away in 1890, and the winery passed through multiple hands. In the late 1930s became the St. Helena Cooperative Winery.
Bruce Markham invested in 230 acres in the late 1970s in Napa, including the old stone cellar winery that Laurent had built. Markham Vineyards was founded in 1977.
The story of the canon on the label.
Bruce had been in the Navy, and so he would start each harvest by firing this miniature cannon he had in the vineyard.
Winemakers
Bryan Del Bondio is the first winemaker and stays with the winery for 42 years, retiring in 2019. But in 2001, Kimberlee Nicholls is made head winemaker. She is one of the first female head winemakers in Napa Valley.
Markham 2019 Napa Valley Merlot
This is a blend of grapes from the Napa Valley, with 64% coming from their estate vineyards. The 2019 vintage was good for them with good weather and extended hangtime for ripening.
The wine is 85% Merlot with 6% Petite Sirah, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Syrah & 2% Malbec.
Most of this wine (96%) fermented in Stainless Steel with 4% seeing barrel ferment. It had 15 days of skin contact. It was aged for 24.5 months in Oak (31% new).
This wine is a new release and will benefit from a little more bottle aging, but all the notes are there.
On the nose I found dried grasses, baking spices and rich cooked berries, plus notes of cedar, oak and vanilla.
In my mouth the fruit took over, with background notes of baking spice. The fruit was juicy and dark. We corovined this wine, so I look forward to seeing how it develops.
14.8% abv $29.00 SRP
2018 Yountville Ranch Merlot
They have 4 Collections: The Napa Valley Collection (our first wine was in that collection), the District Series with grapes all from one of the Napa Valley Districts, the Marked Parcel Series where the grapes are all from one parcel, and the Character, their pinnacle wine from just 7 barrels that is their Merlot based Bordeaux style blend.
This wine is part of their Marked Parcels Collection.
The Yountville Ranch Vineyard Merlot comes from a single parcel on the Yountville estate, which is their oldest vineyard. Winemaker Kimberlee Nicholls doesn’t make this every vintage, only when the vintage speaks to her.
She chose a north-facing block that is a single clone (Merlot 181). These vines have small berries imparting intense flavor. 18 barrels were selected for this bottling.
The wine is 100% Merlot that was fermented in Stainless steel with 9 days of skin contact. It then spent 20 months in French Oak (67% new). It spent just over a year in bottle prior to its release.
This wine was more expressive on the nose with Black cherry, Black plum Blueberry, wet underbrush, licorice, exotic spices, mocha and vanilla.
On the palate it was lean and tight, with black fruit and spice. This wine will open and evolve and I can’t wait to see that. Although wait I will have to. I would say at least 4 years.
14.5% abv $65 SRP
The Pairing – Spaghetti with blue cheese, sausage, orange peppers, and walnuts.
When I went looking for a pairing for these Merlots, I was leaning toward blue cheese and sausage. While spaghetti might seem a bit mundane, it was the perfect pasta to carry this sauce. Blue cheese and cream are added to the cooked crumbled mild italian sausage creating a decadent sauce. We finished with thinly sliced orange peppers which add texture and tang and finished with toasted walnuts.
The dish was stellar and is perfect with Merlot. The wines pulled up the spice in the sausage, and sang with the blue cheese. The pepper picked up on the light capsicum note in the wine.
The recipe follows.
Spaghetti with blue cheese, italian sausage, orange peppers and walnuts
This is a luxurious pasta dish, but it is simple to make. Use it when you need something quick that looks and tastes fancy or cook it up on a weeknight to make any night special.
This dish has a rich sauce with blue cheese, sweet spices and savoriness of the Italian sausage, and the brightness of the orange pepper which cooks just a little and retains a bit of crunch. Top that with the earthy tannins of the toasted walnuts and the bright pepper notes from the arugula, and you have a comforting dish with lots of character.
The flavors in this pasta pair beautifully with a Merlot.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup of walnuts
- 8 oz of spaghetti
- 1 orange pepper thinly sliced
- 3 links of mild Italian sausage removed from the casings
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup of ½ & ½
- 3 oz of blue cheese (less if it is a more pungent style)
- Fresh arugula for garnish
Instructions
- Toast the walnuts at 425 for 3-5 minutes, let them cool, and coarsely chop them
- Boil the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water (according to the package directions)
- Melt the butter in a large skillet. Cook the sausage, breaking it up in the pan for about 8-10 minutes
- Add the cheese and half & half to the sausage and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the drained pasta and the red peppers, and cook over low, adding pasta water if needed.
- Garnish with walnuts and arugula.
Notes
You can really do this with any pasta, but I like the texture of the spaghetti with this sauce. It is lush and full of flavor, but not heavy. I pondered on adding fresh mint, and might do that for a future version.
It will pair perfectly with a Merlot.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 444Total Fat 30gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 56mgSodium 689mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 2gSugar 3gProtein 20g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
A bit on sustainability
These samples came to me through our #WinePW group. We do #MerlotMe annually. Jeff, who led us this month, asked us to tie in sustainability into our posts. Sustainability is essential to me in wine. I want the planet to survive. I will say that we need to go beyond sustainability to regenerative farming practices. We have decimated the soil on the earth with commercial agriculture. It is part of the problem of global warming. So, while I give both of these wineries credit for having female winemakers…
Duckhorn, as I said, became a publicly traded company in March of 2021. As such, they released their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Report, which covers the entire portfolio, including Duckhorn, Decoy, Paraduxx, Migration, Goldeneye, Canvasback, and Calera wines.
The portfolio seems to be doing great at diversity and employee education. Regarding the environment, their North Coast Vineyards are certified Fish Friendly Farming; through this, they use BMP (Beneficial Management Practices). Their Calera Estate is Certified Organic, and their Goldeneye Winery is California Certified Sustainable.
There is a section for Certifications held by their Grower Partners that include: Napa Green, Fish Friendly, SIP Certified, Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing, and LODI Rules certification. This indicates that some of their Grower Partners hold these certifications.
They are working to source all their glass for North America. This cuts the carbon footprint of their glass in a significant way. They are also working in other ways to reduce their carbon footprint by using recycled packaging.
As a whole, the wine you find in the bottle is listed as “California.” The grapes come from various growers in the state, who may have their own sustainability plans. Still, overall, there is not a specific sustainability certification that applies to the Decoy wines.
As to Markham, their wines are Sustainably Certified via Napa Green. This certification means that they recycle 100% of their wastewater, and they use all of their grape pomace for compost. They use Environmentally Preferred Packaging, Deep Green Energy, and have a Recycling Program.
For soil health, they use minimal till practices and cover crops to reduce runoff and erosion and increase soil biodiversity.
They have bee boxes for pollinators, not for the grapes but for the other biodiverse plantlife between the vineyard rows. Owl boxes and bird boxes bring natural wildlife to keep down pests in the vineyard.
They reclaim wastewater to use for vineyard irrigation and monitor weather and vines to allow them to use this precious resource minimally.
The Napa Green Certification also means incorporating social equity into their plan. Napa Green is 3rd party certified.
On their website, they share this.
“OUR PURPOSE
We believe in the power of community, the sanctity of the soil, the inspiration of collaboration, and the notion that all voices deserve to be heard. We stay committed to doing the right thing in service to our land, our people, and our customers.”
Here’s where I stand on the whole “sustainability” thing. Sustainable was a word to get us started. This is based on the word “sustain.” That’s an excellent start, but we need to move forward. We have done some significant damage to the planet. We need to do more than maintain where we are. We need to repair, to regenerate. I applaud Markham for their no-till and cover-crop methods. Fixing the biodiversity in the soil is a huge step. Lowering our carbon footprint with better packaging choices and transportation methods is also important.
I would encourage both of these wineries to do more. Decoy, while widely available, does not hold itself or its growers accountable for sustainability methods. As a large producer, they have influence in the industry, and I would love to see them use this influence to move themselves and their growers toward more sustainable and regenerative methods. This is where they have the opportunity to move the needle, to be part of the solution.
Markham is doing more. They have estate vineyards that they obviously care about for quality and sustainability, and no-till is a difficult move, and they are moving forward in that direction.
When you next pick up a bottle of wine, I encourage you to check the label for sustainability seals, then look those up. Not all are created equal. Some are simply “green-washing.” Better yet, speak to the winery to find out where they stand and how they are farming and trying to make a difference.
It’s not easy. There are costs, just like when you opt for organic produce at the store. It can be scary. Smaller wineries may be afraid of the risk, the possibility of disease taking out a vintage, or the cost of converting to a better method of growing. But the soil, in the end, will thank them by extending the longevity of their vines and extending their lives, or at least those of the workers and people living near the vineyard, by not being around toxic chemicals from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
It does pay off. Vineyards using regenerative practices are seeing dramatic improvements in the carbon sequestration in the soil. This helps are planet AND is allowing their vineyards to remain healthy and less impacted by the current drought.
When you find wineries that are doing it right, reward them! Buy their wines, and tell other people about them!
More #MerlotMe from Crushed Grape Chronicles
- #MerlotMe with figs, cherries and a nice grilled steak #WinePW
- Celebrating Merlot Day with Silverado Vineyards 2018 Mt. George Merlot
- Merlot and Savory Cheesecake to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of St. Francis Vineyards #MerlotMe
- Continueing the #MerlotMe Celebration with Duckhorn and Massaman Curry #WinePW
- Washington Merlots from L’Ecole No. 41 paired with Fig and Shallot stuffed pork loin
- Kicking off #MerlotMe with 2 Rutherford Hill Merlots and decadent burgers with chocolate! #WinePW
- Two easy to find and affordable Merlots to celebrate #MerlotMe Month
- L’Ecole No. 41 2017 Merlot with Dinner and a Unique Dessert
- Celebrating Merlot month with a Selby Merlot from sonoma County
- Merlot from 2 big-name companies, that are worth finding for different reasons
- Merlot from elegant to badass. Time to #MerlotMe with #WinePW
Find our book!
Tempting Spoonfuls: Pairing single bites with glorious wines
Inspired by the flavors and aromas in wines, this book creates “tempting spoonfuls” of flavors to pair with wines.
Robin has always had a love for spoons, with a drawer full of them in all different shapes and sizes. There is comfort in eating something from a spoon and something very sensual also.
Creating a spoon filled with flavors and aromas that will be eaten in a single bite, allowing the flavors to meld and pop in your mouth, is a joyful endeavor, and you are encouraged to make these your own.
The spoons range from savory to sweet, with something for everyone, and while they are paired with wines, they are delicious on their own.
These recipes are wonderful for appetizers and hors d’oeuvres or simple to create something delicious to spoil yourself, much like a pint of ice cream.
Each of these spoons is paired with a specific wine, and you get a bit of background on the wine, its flavors, aromas, and a bit of its story. She also includes other suggestions for wines to pair with the spoon.
The book is a feast for your eyes, with photos of each layered spoonful.
There are also photos of the wines with the elements of their flavor profile surrounding them. Those elements often inspire the pairing.
The goal is to make your mouth water and encourage you to create your own “Tempting Spoonfuls.”
Buy this on Amazon
Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine and WSET 3 Certified. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.
When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.
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