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Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $9.99
Red plum, currants and cedar aromas with a touch of earthy goodness. This wine is medium to full-bodied and...
Rapid Ship
Red
750ml
Bottle: $39.69
12 bottles: $38.90
Aromas of currants, cedar and violets follow through to a medium body and fine tannins with a lovely, light velvety...
12 FREE
VM
92
JS
92
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.44 $21.60
12 bottles: $17.10
Beautiful, broad and plush, this structured but charming wine overflows with red fruits and baking spices, with a...
WE
93
DC
90
Red
375ml
Bottle: $13.22
12 bottles: $12.96
This wine impresses red wine lovers immediately with spicy aromas of cassis, black cherry, plum, vanilla, oak and...
Instore only
Red
5.0Ltr
Bottle: $19.94
Flavors of blackberry aromas and raspberry. Soft, medium-bodied wine with a smooth finish. Serve at room temperature.
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.94 $18.33
12 bottles: $16.63
Lively lavender aromas elevate the dark berry and thyme scents on the nose of this bottling. The core of blueberry...
WE
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $31.93 $33.60
12 bottles: $31.29
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.41 $15.17
12 bottles: $12.36
Our Apothic Merlot is a silky, approachable red wine grown in California. Notes of blackberry and boysenberry are...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.36 $13.01
12 bottles: $8.08
Our Merlot is garnet in color with flavors of black cherry on the palate. Soft and smooth.
Instore only
Red
187ml
Bottle: $6.99
Bright cherry, ripe plum, milk chocolate, red apple, and vanilla bean flavors combine for this wine’s decadent...
UBC
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $11.94 $12.57
12 bottles: $9.51
Bright cherry, ripe plum, milk chocolate, red apple, and vanilla bean flavors combine for this wine’s decadent...
UBC
90
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $15.94 $16.66
12 bottles: $15.83
• 100% Merlot. • Sourced from four vineyards in the Yakima Valley, Red Mountain and Columbia Valleys. • Sees...
Case only
Red
750ml - Case of 12
Bottle: $68.93
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2021 Merlot bursts with notes of baked black plums, boysenberry preserves, and black...
12 FREE
JS
92
WA
91
Sale
Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $28.84 $30.36
6 bottles: $19.20
The Beringer Founders’ Estate Merlot is immediately approachable with lush flavors of blueberry, blackberry and...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $14.34 $15.10
12 bottles: $12.37
The Beringer Founders’ Estate Merlot is immediately approachable with lush flavors of blueberry, blackberry and...
Sale
Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $25.81 $27.17
6 bottles: $16.68
The Basics Ripe plum and currant flavors are immediately evident in its aromas and flavors. The Taste A sweet,...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $12.43 $13.08
The Basics Ripe plum and currant flavors are immediately evident in its aromas and flavors. The Taste A sweet,...
Instore only
Red
3.0Ltr
Bottle: $19.49
Hints of plum, black cherry, and baking spices unfold smoothly across the palate with soft tannins and supple...
Instore only
Red
500ml
Bottle: $5.49
Hints of plum, black cherry, and baking spices unfold smoothly across the palate with soft tannins and supple...
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $17.56 $18.48
12 bottles: $13.18

Merlot Other Italian Reds Primitivo United States

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.

As with many European grape varietals, there is some debate regarding the precise origins of the Primitivo grape. Most people now agree that it probably came from Croatia, where it is still used widely in the production of red wine, and it known as Tribidrag. However, today it is a grape most commonly associated with the powerful red wines of Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, where the intense sunshine and brisk Mediterranean breezes produce grapes of remarkable character and balance. Primitivo is a dark grape, known for producing intense, inky, highly tannic wines, most notably the naturally sweet Dolce Naturale and the heavy and complex Primitivo di Manduria wines. Primitivo tends to be naturally very high in both tannin and alcohol, making it ideal for both barrel and cellar ageing, which brings out its more rounded and interesting features.


Primitivo is not the easiest grape to grow or manage, and it has had something of a difficult century. Indeed, by the 1990s, there was little interest in Puglian wines in general, and winemakers were neglecting their Primitivo vineyards and looking to other, more commercially viable varietals. However, the last decade has seen this grape come well and truly back into fashion, with new techniques and a heightened interest in native Italian grape varietals bringing Primitivo back into the spotlight. It is now widely loved for its intensity and ability to be paired with strongly flavored foods.

Of all the New World wine countries, perhaps the one which has demonstrated the most flair for producing high quality wines - using a combination of traditional and forward-thinking contemporary methods - has been the United States of America. For the past couple of centuries, the United States has set about transforming much of its suitable land into vast vineyards, capable of supporting a wide variety of world-class grape varietals which thrive on both the Atlantic and the Pacific coastlines. Of course, we immediately think of sun-drenched California in regards to American wines, with its enormous vineyards responsible for the New World's finest examples of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot based wines, but many other states have taken to viticulture in a big way, with impressive results. Oregon, Washington State and New York have all developed sophisticated and technologically advanced wine cultures of their own, and the output of U.S wineries is increasing each year as more and more people are converted to their produce.