The questions remains: Why did we take Hollywood’s dismissal of merlot literally? Many a wannabe wine snob took “Sideways” sullen leading man Miles Raymond seriously and shunned merlot. After all, it was Miles’ waxing poetic about pinot noir that got the girl, right?

Following the release of “Sideways” in October 2004, merlot sales dropped 2 percent while pinot noir sales increased 16 percent in the United States. About the same time, a few Washington state wineries that were known for merlot removed the grape from their portfolios. Some removed merlot from their vineyards and replaced this grape of Bordeaux origins with syrah or more of the popular cabernet sauvignon. The word on the vineyard street was, “Do not plant any more merlot.”

Now these drastic changes weren’t necessarily about how the wine consumer was feeling about merlot — it was more about the winemakers’ artistic style and how dramatically the weather had changed since the first merlot vines were planted in Washington in the early 1970s.

Washington state merlot started to gain popularity when it was first introduced and became our shining- star varietal in the late 1980s. This red grape from the Evergreen State is like no other with its big, bold, cherry flavors and complex nose that often includes mint, cigar-box and spices. It is also higher in acidity than its California cousins, which contributes to its being food- friendly. In spite of glowing accolades from around the nation, somewhere we became sidetracked.

However, there is good news on the horizon for merlot lovers. In February 2010, new research by The Nielsen Company regarding U.S. wine consumers’ buying patterns came to light. Evidently, merlot has the single largest consumer base of any varietal in the U.S. and, of the major wine varietals, is the one most closely associated with high quality at an affordable price. Most importantly, the report showed that wine lovers strongly agreed that merlot is a versatile and food-friendly everyday wine.

There is no merlot like one from Washington and, better yet, a merlot produced in the Walla Walla Valley. My advice: Revisit some of the “original” merlots, such as those from Woodward Canyon and L’Ecole No 41. I recently enjoyed the L’Ecole No 41 Columbia Valley Merlot – 2006. It was an affordable classic —  rich and spicy, showing off big flavors of cherry, fig, plum and chocolate. Woodward Canyon’s Nelms Road merlot offers real value at $20, and has the structure to age for about five years.

Basel Cellars, Mannina Cellars and Skylite Cellars, to name a few local wineries, are producing merlot with Walla Walla fruit and — as The Neilson Company  suggests —  high quality at an affordable price. These aromatic, bold reds not only show off the big, luscious fruit from Walla Walla’s terroir, but are also pocketbook- friendly with accompanying accolades from the press.

Merlot often finds its way into my recipes. I think a bottle of merlot should be included in every spice rack between the jars labeled “Masala” and “mint.” Just last  week a bottle of Washington merlot bubbled in my Boeuf Bourguignon à la Child-Pépin-Catie (Very important note: Jacques  Pépin replaces beef stock with more wine — yes!) The French stew was rich and concentrated in flavors and made the house smell good, too. I could even smell the savory herbs and the sweetness of the wine from my patio.

So to all of you Miles Raymonds out there: Waxing poetic about pinot noir isn’t going to win this girl, but if you remove pinot noir and insert merlot in your romantic  spiel, you just might get my attention.

CATIE MCINTYRE WALKER writes “Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine” blog at http://www.wildwallawallawinewoman.blogspot.com and Twitter’s @Catie and @Walla2WineWoman.

Here in Washington State, and especially in Walla Walla, we really didn’t care what the sullen Merlot-bashing character, Miles Raymond from the movie Sideways, felt about one of our favorite wines.   We were secure enough about our position in the wine world, that it was obvious that Miles Raymond had never tasted a Merlot from Washington State.  So, the joke was on him!

Grab a couple of bottles or more of your favorite Washington Merlot and join us Thursday, March 25 from 5 – 8 pm PDT to show your support on Twitter!  Help us send a unified message around the Twitter Nation.  You can  Tweet from home, a local winery, a wine bar, or a restaurant.  Make it a party and gather all of your friends!  Through the night, you’ll be able to see what everyone is saying about Washington Merlot and you may be able to connect with other wine lovers enjoying the same bottle of Merlot!

Video after the break.

Show your support for one of our “native” grapes – the “blackbird” of French wines – the red grape that has been typically  used as a blending grape – a wine that only Washington State’s soil could turn it into a single varietal in a bottle showing off it’s deep color and balanced acidity – Merlot!

For more information and to sign up for this exciting free online event, check it out at Washington Merlot!

Unlike Miles Raymond who yelled in protest, “No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any #%*&ing Merlot!”  We’ll be cheering, “No, if nobody orders Merlot, we’re leaving!  We’re drinking #%*&ing Merlot!”

For Myles Anderson and Gordy Veneri, the survey of all 13 Walla Walla Vintners merlots — from 1995 to 2007 — was an opportunity to see how the wines were aging. Though they were the eighth winery to open in Walla Walla, their newly planted estate vineyard will not be in production until 2010. Up until now their merlots have been assembled from a well-chosen list of growers from around the state.

Canoe Ridge Vineyard debuted in 1992 and quickly developed an excellent reputation for its merlots, made with fruit grown at the estate vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills. For the first decade the winemaker was John Abbott (now at Abeja); most recently Christophe Paubert has been the man in charge.

Paubert is French-born and educated; his resume includes work as cellarmaster at the famed Chateau d’Yquem, and winemaking at Chateau Gruaud-Larose in Bordeaux and Montana in New Zealand. His first vintage at Canoe Ridge was 2006, and this was his first time tasting all of the winery’s merlots at a single sitting.

Why should it matter how any wine ages? Most bottles are consumed within 24 hours of purchase, and wineries fashion wines accordingly, with bright, ripe, forward fruit, set against lush new barrel flavors and soft, pillowy tannins.

Paubert, with his Old World background, had a good answer to the question. “In the past in Bordeaux,” he explained, “the young wines were so tannic you couldn’t enjoy them without aging. It was also recognized that great vintages and great terroir could age well; so it stood for the quality of the chateau.”

He went on to point out, and I heartily agree, that one of the pleasures of wine is to see it evolving through the years. “If you have a cellar and several bottles of a certain wine, you have the pleasure of drinking it, and another pleasure, which is to see it evolving. Some food also matches better with an aged wine; when it matches well, that is magic.”

It was a happy coincidence that both wineries elected to pour their merlots within days of each other. I am regularly asked by readers which red grape I think is Washington’s best, and though I do not say it is merlot, I would happily nominate it as a strong candidate.

There are very few places in the world where merlot as a stand-alone varietal or principal blending grape has the stuffing, the power and the palate presence to command serious attention. But here in Washington, for reasons that remain mysterious, it ripens more fully, develops more complexity and simply is more expressive than almost anywhere outside of the right bank of Bordeaux.

These tastings provided ample evidence to support that notion. From a total of 36 wines — 13 from Vintners, 23 from Canoe Ridge (including eight reserve bottlings) — an aging pattern emerged. The oldest wines, from the mid-1990s, were still balanced and showed mature, soft flavors. The sweet spot was reached when the wines were eight to 10 years old; the 1999, 2000 and 2001 vintages showed especially well.

My favorites were the 1999 and 2000 merlots from Walla Walla Vintners, and the 1996, 1999 (regular bottling) and 2005 reserve from Canoe Ridge. But the real winner was Washington merlot, for which we may all be grateful.

JUST A FEW WEEKS ago, I came across a startling offer. A young Burgundy was being advertised for the jaw-dropping price of $8,500. Granted, this was the Romanée Conti from the Domaine Romanée Conti — by general acclaim the greatest Burgundy in the world. To acquire a single bottle, you often must purchase a mixed case of DRC wines (recent case price online was $55,288); the limited opportunities to do so are doled out to gravy-train riders around the globe.

In this instance the vintage happened to be 2005, which the punditerati have declared the vintage of the century (out of six so far). Still, the price seemed incredible. So I trotted down to a local retailer to confirm what I had read. Could any standard 750 ml-size bottle of young wine possibly be sold at such a price in these distressed times? Oh, yes, my retailer friend assured me. In fact, he said, he’d sold the same wine a few months ago for considerably more than $8,500. And even that was considered a bargain, because the wine had gone at auction for more than $15,000 a bottle — plus buyer’s commission, of course.

I report this cautionary tale not to discourage you from grubbing up every bottle of bargain DRC you can find, but more in the spirit of misery loves company. We’re all looking for wine bargains, and even the mightiest prices have fallen!

Many perfectly fine Washington wines are gathering dust on shelves and in warehouses because consumers consider the price too high. Winemakers are rarely trying to gouge anyone; most little boutiques are simply scraping by. The wine cost this much to make, the argument goes, and to keep the business afloat it must sell for a bit more. My response is always the same. Yes, but . . . The consumer doesn’t care what your costs are. The consumer looks around at all the wines and buys the one that appears to offer comparable quality for less dough.

A big part of the cost of wine is the price paid to grape growers. Prestige vineyards charge premium prices, and the wineries follow suit. But if the grower is making the wines, and happens to be a grower with a lot of really good fruit, wouldn’t that result in considerable savings?

Brothers Butch and Jerry Milbrandt planted their first grapes in 1997, and now farm almost 1,600 acres, mostly red grapes in the Wahluke Slope. More than 40 wineries purchase Milbrandt grapes, but some of the best blocks are reserved for their own Milbrandt Vineyards label.

“We can get our grapes turned into wine for less money than smaller producers that buy on the open market,” Butch says. “Another advantage is we have lots to choose from, up to 15 different blocks of any given varietal, to come up with the best possible flavor profile.”

Milbrandt’s winemaker is Gordy Hill, a well-traveled veteran of the Washington wine scene (previously winemaker at Northstar). Two tiers of wines are offered: the Estates wines (previously labeled Legacy) are priced between $20 and $25; several are sold only at the spiffy new tasting room opened last spring in the North Prosser Business Park.

More widely available are the Traditions wines, priced at $13 for the whites and $15 for the reds.
These wines are among a small number of truly compelling Washington red wines priced at $15 or less. If splurge today means going for that $15 bottle, these are the wines to reach for.

Among the current Milbrandt Vineyards Traditions releases are a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon, dense and dark, ripe and compact, with layers of black fruits, black smoke, black tea and black olives. The 2006 Syrah includes a bit of grenache and petite sirah as well; it’s solid and generous, laced with vanilla/tobacco flavors. There is also a fresh, clean, citrusy 2007 Pinot Gris.

www.milbrandtvineyards.com

This is the Costco house brand, and the new merlot comes through with exceptional flavors for the price. It’s lush and loaded with black cherry and mocha flavors. Tannins are ripe and smooth, the concentration is surprising, and there are no holes in this wine; it plays out smoothly with a very satisfying richness.Chile’s Veramonte aims to bump it up a notch.

In another month or so they’ll be starting the 2009 harvest in Chile, and if things continue as they have in recent years, the joy juice will be flowing. The past five or six vintages have been at least very good, with 2005 and 2007 just about perfect, and one industry analyst has said the country is the best-located in the world to combat climate change, given its natural geography, sustainable water supply and seemingly endless coast.

The only significant challenge facing Chilean winemakers is one that affects virtually every newcomer to the global wine scene: how to bump up its image as a producer of everyday, cheerful value wines to a serious competitor in the market for pricier, super premium wines.

One company working both ends with considerable success is Veramonte. It was the surprise winner on a recent Top 100 list published by online retailer Wine.com. There are a lot of these lists, but this one had an interesting spin: The wines were ranked strictly according to total bottle sales. Vox populi.

The most popular wine of 2008, says Wine.com, was Veramonte’s 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva. Nearby at No. 5 was Veramonte’s 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Reserva; its 2006 Chardonnay Reserva was No. 21, and its premium red blend, called Primus, appeared at No. 15 (2004 vintage) and No. 90 (2005 vintage).

Veramonte is part of a small group of wineries owned by Agustin Huneeus, a native of Chile who previously developed the Caliterra and Errazuriz brands. Huneeus also owns the Quintessa winery in Napa, but of more interest to most consumers is his passion for Chile’s Casablanca Valley. This pristine grape-growing region had almost no vineyards when he first explored in the early 1990s, but has quickly become known around the world, especially for its racy white wines.

Veramonte is headquartered there, with 1,100 acres of grapes farmed sustainably. Since they were introduced a decade ago, wines from this property have shown steady improvement while maintaining their bargain pricing. Primus, introduced in 2003, is the winery’s Meritage blend.

The vintages named below may be passing from the market, but there is little need for concern. The newest vintages for all these wines should be just as good, if not better.

Veramonte 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Reserva ($10). Sauvignon blanc is the standard-bearer for Casablanca whites. Ultra-fresh, crisp and grassy, reminiscent of New Zealand versions, with perhaps more herb and less lime. Good lingering persistence brings in delicate notes of nettle and celery.

Veramonte 2006 Chardonnay Reserva ($10). A juicy, spicy, fruit-driven New World style of chardonnay with an interesting twist: a little kick to the melon and banana flavors that brings in lemon peel and juniper berry.

Veramonte 2006 Pinot Noir Reserva ($15). American winemaker Paul Hobbs consulted on this stylish but delicate effort. Lightly scented with rose petals and chocolate. Flavors bring mixed berries and cherry, with soft tannins and a suggestion of oak in the finish.

Veramonte 2006 Merlot ($10). Merlot is difficult to make well at this price, so don’t look for Washington-style meat and muscle here. The fruit is just barely ripe, and flavors of leaf and moist earth abound. But the balance is good.Veramonte 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon ($10). Blend includes cabernet franc, carmenere and syrah, giving this flavors that don’t exactly equate to standard cab. Bright and spicy, with tangy berry flavors set against mouth-drying tannins that carry a lingering impression of saltiness.

Veramonte 2005 Primus Red Blend ($20). Oddly, this red blend, which might be considered a genuine reserve effort, is simply labeled with its proprietary name, Primus. Half merlot, a third cabernet, the rest carmenere. Softer and rounder than Veramonte’s cheaper reds, but I found it did not quite live up to the reputation of the vintage — a bit thin and weedy.