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Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $126.80 $141.10
This is sensational, characterized by such purity and beauty and with aromas of blackberries, dark chocolate,...
12 FREE
JS
96
WE
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $32.61
12 bottles: $31.96
Firm tannins are holding everything in place right now. There's a tiny dip through the mid-palate before the fruit...
12 FREE
DC
89
VM
88
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $510.48 $567.20
Lead-pencil aromas with currants and plums, too. Full body, silky tannins and a focused and very refined finish. It's...
12 FREE
WE
94
JS
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.80
12 bottles: $19.40
A tight and focused second wine from Potensac with currant and lemon-rind character. Medium body, fine tannins and a...
JS
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $633.15 $703.50
Exotically perfumed, with ripe, lushly textured fruit. A complete and showy example of great, polished modern claret...
12 FREE
DC
95
WA
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $450.99 $501.10
A total blockbuster is the 2015 Angelus and it’s reminiscent of a slightly more elegant 2009. Made from 62% Merlot...
12 FREE
WA
97
VM
97
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $1135.08 $1261.20
An utterly perfect wine from Alain Vauthier, the 2015 Château Ausone offers off the hook notes of crème de cassis,...
12 FREE
WE
100
JD
100
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $89.28 $99.20
This family-owned property at one of the high points in Saint-Émilion has made a rich, opulent wine, full of...
12 FREE
WE
96
WA
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.10
12 bottles: $30.48
Dark plums, gently toast spices and dark, stony, graphite-like aromas here. The palate has an extremely fluid,...
12 FREE
JS
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $154.94 $157.20
93-95 Barrel sample. This is a smooth, rich wine that's intensely concentrated and packed with great black-currant...
12 FREE
WE
95
JD
94
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $157.68 $175.20
Made in a more flamboyant, lifted style than the 2016, the 2015 Château Beychevelle offers a beautiful, medium to...
12 FREE
WE
95
JD
95
Red
750ml
Bottle: $45.92
12 bottles: $45.00
Stylish cedar and lightly toasted spices mingle with ripe cherries, blue plums and violets. The palate has a very...
12 FREE
WE
94
JS
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $41.37
12 bottles: $40.54
Lots of chocolate and juicy fruit to this with currant and walnut undertones. Medium body, soft and silky tannins and...
12 FREE
JS
92
WS
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $70.56 $78.40
Barrel sample. Full of ripe Cabernet tannins, this is a structured wine that's chunky in character. It elegantly...
12 FREE
WE
95
DC
92
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $67.95 $71.40
12 bottles: $67.26
This family-owned estate has produced a structured and dark wine with great concentration balanced by acidity and...
12 FREE
WE
95
DC
94
Red
750ml
Bottle: $84.95
12 bottles: $83.25
Barrel sample. With marked acidity as well as black fruits, this is a wine with weight and richness. It has a dark...
12 FREE
WE
94
DC
93
Sale
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $99.51 $107.00
Right from the attack this has beautiful intensity and focus, with tannins covered by a layer of silk. A dash of...
12 FREE
DC
96
WE
96
Red
750ml
Bottle: $34.50
12 bottles: $33.81
Blackberry perfumes and rich tannins play their parts in this dense, firm wine. Fruit and a dry core cut with acidity...
12 FREE
WE
92
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $261.36
This dense, rich wine is firm with solid tannins. Its texture and structure give it an opulent character that brings...
12 FREE
WE
96
DC
95
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $22.40
Close to some of the top Margaux vineyards, this estate regularly produces some fine wines. This bottling is...
WE
92
JS
91

Merlot Red Bordeaux 1997 2012 2015 750ml

With its dark blue colored fruits and high juice content, Merlot varietal grapes have long been a favorite of wine producers around the globe, with it being found in vineyards across Europe, the Americas and elsewhere in the New World. One of the distinguishing features of Merlot grapes is the fact that they have a relatively low tannin content and an exceptionally soft and fleshy character, meaning they are capable of producing incredibly rounded and mellow wines. This mellowness is balanced with plenty of flavor, however, and has made Merlot grapes the varietal of choice for softening other, more astringent and tannin-heavy wines, often resulting in truly exceptional produce. Merlot is regarded as one of the key 'Bordeaux' varietals for precisely this reason; when combined with the drier Cabernet Sauvignon, it is capable of blending beautifully to produce some of the finest wines available in the world.

There are few regions in the world with stricter regulations in regards to wine production and grape varietals than those found in Bordeaux, France. Here, in the home of the world's finest wines, the type and quality of grapes used is of utmost importance, and the legendary wineries which work on the banks of the Gironde river have mastered the careful art of juice blending to find the perfect balance for their produce. Whilst there are six 'official' Bordeaux grapes, the two key varietals for almost every fine Bordeaux wine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and with good reason. Whilst Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are renowned for their acidity and astringency, strong fruit and spice flavors and full body, Merlot grapes are notably rounded, soft, fleshy and lighter on tannin. The combination of these two varietals, along with a small percentage of (commonly) Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc, is the perfect balancing act – the two grape varietals cancel out each others weaker points, and accentuate all that is good about the other.