Merlot—Beverage of Connoisseurs

Very little thrills me more than picking up the wine list in a restaurant and seeing something extraordinary at a price I can afford. I'll bet book collectors get the same buzz when they walk into a junk shop and find a first edition of Carrie offered for $8.99.

Recently, I came upon a magnum of 1992 Beringer Howell Mountain Merlot at The Earle, a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was priced at $155.

No, you can't rush over there and get your own, because this was the last magnum, although I can enthusiastically advise patronizing The Earle if you appreciate great California reds with age on them. The list is very good overall, but the selections of first-rate California reds are astonishingly priced.

(Want a French red instead? The 1996 Chave Hermitage is $135 there, $150-$175 in most wine stores.)

I was particularly thrilled about the Beringer Howell Mountain, because I believe it is the best merlot made in California, and I think it has been for more than a decade.

That 1992 had the advantage of being in the magnum format, which is the equivalent of two bottles and provides ideal aging conditions. The wine wasn't just smooth and supple, which seems to be the first priority of American merlot consumers, but it also boasted gorgeous, black-cherry-like fruit and the rarest of all California wine attributes, a lovely bouquet. (Ever notice how many California wines are deficient in that?)

I know Merlot is over. Everybody who used to drink it now wants Pinot Noir. And it is true that French Merlots, particularly those from the Pomerol appellation, tend to outperform California merlots.

But that used to be true of Pinot Noir, too, and now California Pinots Noirs are competitive with a great many red Burgundies. There's no reason why California Merlots, given the success of Beringer, can't do just as well.