Merlot has gotten a bad name in recent years and much of that stems from the famous line in the movie, Sideways, "If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving". Miles from the movie quite literally changed the popularity of this varietal of wine for millions of American wine drinkers - and indeed created a world-wide impact as well. Merlot isn't that bad but its reputation still suffers in the face of popular red wine alternatives including Cabernet Sauvignon and of course, Pinot Noir.  Let's take a deeper look at merlot and how you can better appreciate it once you get an opportunity to sample it at your favorite winery or wine bar.

To casual wine drinkers that stick with what they like, the wine industry appears to be a conservative place where you can order the same wine year after year with just the vintage year changing. Thankfully that isn't completely true. While many of the most popular vintages out there change little from one year to the next, just like with the beer industry there are limited edition bottles that are more than just "this was a great year". One that I came across earlier this year was the Dry-Hopped Sauvignon Blanc from Murphy Good and while it is now out of stock... it just goes to show that innovation isn't dead!

David "Merf" Merfeld from Northstar Winery is one of my favorite winemakers. He has an amazing ability to create new innovative wines and The Cosmic Egg Cabernet Sauvignon is one of his recent creations.