Boring in a big way

entwine Merlot 20090
Last night we celebrated the end of our garden. Before the deep freeze I went out and picked the last of the green tomatoes. Here it is the first week of January and up until the freeze we had some nice green tomato vines. Seven months after we planned we finally get tomatoes. That’s because they outlived the little buggers that pretty much bored through everything we planted. I guess they don’t like okra because that’s the only thing that went unscathed.

The cucumber vine did get into a death match with the okra, wrapping its vines around its stems and trying to strangle it. Its nice to finally get something out of a garden that cost us a fortune when we planted it. So why am I waxiing on and on about our little garden? I putting off reviewing this wine as long as I can.

This wine had been had been on sale during the Holidays at Publix. My mother-in-law picked it up at half price, around $6.99. They had several varietals and she picked this Merlot.

This is one of the most boring wines I’ve had in a while. Mrs. Dan chimed in the same thing. Maybe this is the Merlot that the movie Sideways intended to malign.

I opened it last night and on first sip it tasted like oak-flavored wine. Yes it was oaky but in such a way that it seemed to be separate from the taste of the grapes. I have a funny feeling this wine aged in oak chips in a stainless steel tank. Kinda like the oak chips that came with the winemaking kit I got for Christmas. Tonight when I had another taste I couldn’t detect any oak. The light watery feel was the same. The label has the “Food Network” logo on it. The e in entwine is supposed to be lowercase.

I did a Google search and found the entwine.com website…. which is a heavy metal band and looks more interesting than this wine tastes. I then visited entwine-wines.com and found that this wine is a joint project between the Food Network and Wente Vineyards. They got lots of tasting events listed and tons of pairings. That’s nice considering I won’t be buying any more of these wines. Maybe the Cab is better. They would have to lower the price to $4 before I would try any of the others. Their tasting notes say “juicy and mouthwatering-think plums and cherries, with a hint of black tea.”

I have to admit. I’ve never seen another wine mention “hint of black tea.” Maybe black tea bag was what I was tasting the second night. I have to laugh now at my earlier comment about its watery mouthfeel. I guess that is what “mouthwatering” means. Last night it seems to have a hint of sweetness….. like sugar. Tonight, not so much.

I’ll give this one 2 corks because it was cheap (and someone else paid for it) and has some flavor to it. But like I said. Boring.
From: California

Year: 2009

Score: 2 corks
Dan’s Rating System:

1 Cork: Watery and no taste. Makes my wallet unhappy.
2 Corks: Taste but watery. Makes my wallet happy
3 Corks: Tastes good, makes my wallet happy and feels real good in my mouth.