Recommendation: Not recommended.
Winery/Producer: Martin Ray Winery; Santa Rosa, California.
Grape Variety: Merlot.
Geographic Region, Appellation: Napa Valley, California.
Vintage: 2010
Price: $19.99
Purchased From: Total Wine; Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Paired With: Chicken Marsala, whole wheat pasta with oil, garlic and Parmesan cheese, salad with Caesar style dressing.
Tasting:
He said: Opened one-hour before drinking. Dark ruby red with a brown rim and slight brown tint throughout. Dark fruit aromas with hints of both alcohol and damp earth. Quite acid cherry taste that continues through a medium-length finish. The dinner was OUTSTANDING but the wine was at best “not bad”. Soft tannins, but no smooth mouth feel I expected from a Napa Merlot and in fact there was a sharpness in the finish. For me this was just OK and for the @20 price I was disappointed.
She said: This was a chameleon whine, at least with this dinner. The first taste was delicious, subsequent tastes were disappointing but after dinner it was delicious sipping. Perhaps the pairing was the issue but each sip of wine went well with the chicken, pasta or salad, so I am inclined to think there was more going on here, but what? I don’t know. The aroma had agreeable dusty tones, the taste carried through with light red cherry and the flavor lasted into a long finish. The best feature of the wine was the pleasant tannins and the tad of bitterness in the finish
Comments: This was clearly not as good as the 2009, see our tasting review of the Martin Ray Napa Valley Merlot 2009
Alcohol:14.2%
Bar code: 7 29722 00187 3
Imported by: NA