Another Birthday Dinner

2002 T-Vine Merlot
$27.99
Shane’s Notes

For my brother’s birthday dinner, we went to Black Angus. They did not charge us a corkage fee which proves that they are little embarrassed by their wine list which features a stunning array of plonk including Sutter Home, Turning Leaf and Fetzer. Jen and I brought a T-Vine Merlot for ourselves and a Krohn Colheita for the birthday boy. My parents brought a J. Lohr Riesling for themselves. If you know how we feel about J. Lohr, you know why my parents had the entire bottle to themselves (See “J Lohr Tasting,” 6/30/05).

My brother tasted the T-Vine and said it was the worst wine I had ever had him taste. That wasn’t quite the reaction I was expecting, so I poured a glass and tasted it. It was very tight and dry. While I explained to him that sometimes young wines need to aerate for as much as twenty to thirty minutes to get them to open up and reveal their flavors, he kept nodding his head and slurping down the T-Vine. His glass of T-Vine was gone before my dissertation was over. I immediately switched him over to the more accessible Krohn 1994 Colheita (See “Could be the Perfect Port,” 4/1/05).

Jen and I let the T-Vine sit for about twenty minutes and then tried it. It was stunning! It was so rich, plummy and jammy that I’m not even sure I would have identified it as a Merlot. It was mildly complex and had firm tannins with a dry finish that really complemented the rich, fruit flavors. It is drinkable now but could really improve with 3-5 years of aging. This is quite simply one of the best Merlots we have tasted.