Expensive wine 154: Frank Family Merlot 2018

This is classic Napa Valley merlot – big and powerful, but a wine that still tastes like merlot

The Wine Curmudgeon has long been baffled by California merlot. Too many are made to taste like caberent sauvignon, because that’s what producers think their customers want. And too many are turned into cheap and unsatisfying varietals and blends, often sugared up to mask how poorly made they are.

In fact, I was so curious about why this happens that I wrote a freelance story about it.

Given all of thit I didn’t expect much from the Frank Family Merlot 2018 ($45, sample, 14.5%), which showed up out of the blue a while back. It’s not the kind of sample that I typically get (or that I ask for), but it was in the wine closet and my job is to taste wine.

So I did, and was much pleased by what I tasted. This is classic Napa Valley merlot – big, powerful, and complex, but that still tastes like merlot and not cabernet. Trust me – that doesn’t happen often enough.

No, it’s not a red Bordeaux with earthiness and minerality, even though the wine has some cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc in it. Rather, there is the unmistakable aroma of a Napa red, with all of the herbs and cedar. The fruit is concentrated (plums, maybe, with blackberries) and it finishes long and almost soft, with a bit of baking spice.

This is definitely a food wine, and especially with beef braised in red wine.