Tag Archives: Broadside

Wine of the week: Broadside Merlot 2019

Broadside Merlot bottle
Broadside Merlot 2019/$12-$19

We celebrate the New Year with an affordable and professional California red

Quality, affordable California wine – let alone quality, cheap California wine – has long been in short supply. The reasons vary; the results are too often sappy and soft wines that really don’t taste like wine.

So, in 2022, I made a conscious effort to look for California wine that met the blog’s criteria, but wasn’t from McManis. One of the results: two wines from Broadside, the cabernet sauvignon and, today, the merlot.

Broadside’s 2019 merlot ($14, purchased, 14.5%) is a well-executed California red that does something that doesn’t happen often anymore. It tastes like merlot; most of the varietal at this price are either sweet, made to taste like cabernet sauvignon, or both.

Instead, it has merlot’s characteristics, even at such a high alcohol level. That means it’s less rigid in structure – call it rounder instead of pointed, and noticeably less tannic. There is some black fruit and even a little spice. All in all, a nicely made bottle of wine, even if the company that turns out Broadside also pumps out shelves and shelves of supermarket plonk (as well as the surprisingly pleasant Stephen Vincent wines).

This is food wine, most notably red meat. But it would be amiss with a weeknight meatloaf, either.

Wine of the week: Broadside Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

broadside cabernet sauvignon
Broadside cabernet sauvignon/$10-$16

Jammy? Certainly. But a New World-style red that is well-made and drinkable

No, the Broadside cabernet sauvignon is not the wine of the week because its name and label fit some sort of Fourth of July theme. Rather, it’s because the wine is something I don’t see much of – a drinkable, New World-style cabernet from California that is neither too jammy or sweet.

There is little doubt that the Broadside cabernet sauvignon ( $13, purchased, 13.5%) is jammy, with lots and lots of dark berries. But there is more than just sweet fruit – extremely rare for this kind of wine, where the goal is usually “smooth.”

There is sort of something resembling what wine geeks call fine-grained tannins, where the tannins hide in the background instead of puckering your mouth. And you might actually taste some spice, another pleasant surprise. Finally, there is what the winery notes call a “solid seam of acidity” – a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

Drink this with almost any July 4 barbecue. And yes, if you pay more than $15, you might be disappointed. Still, it’s a fine example of this style, where the producer wants to make wine and not something to please people who don’t like red wine.