Merlot

I just, I will say that it's a lot fruitier.

When you think about like California wines, Napa, Merlot, juicy, fruity reds that have all these like berries, not always going to pair with your steak tartare, not going to work with chicken liver mousse.

You need something that has a little more herbaceous earthiness.

I'm always looking for something that goes with chicken liver mousse.

Because the reserve is mostly made of...

The blend is mostly made of 60% Cab, 40% Merlot, more or less.

We are always back to that kind of blend.

And So it's mainly cab, and I love cab when the tannic structure is so velvety and silky.

That makes, to me, the main differences between a good cab and a great cab is all about the structure.

Do you worry about the real tannins in the grapes from that vintage, or do you feel you could always control and soften everything by adding more Merlot?

If

the tannins are strong, you're going to feel them some way or another, right?

Okay, so today's episode is just me, hopefully not rambling, but trying to convey my thought process as I go through three different wines that I made this past harvest, 2026 through September, I guess, starting in August and September into October.

So I'm doing this now in mid-October while it's fresh on my brain, but I'm gonna take a Chardonnay and Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon Latte and walk through all of my decisions, the whole process, my thought process for additions, how I was going to ferment the wine, including all the chemistries.

And I've chosen some lots that needed some manipulation specifically so we'd have more to talk about.

So that's what this episode is going to be.

We'll talk about that more in a minute.

Chemistries.

That's Merlot Chardonnay.

Okay.

People are

sipping Merlot.

It's nice.

I'm not complaining.

It's a bit of a cyclical thing.

The US, for me, what they did is they made wine accessible because they started saying to people, this is a Merlot, this is a Cabernet, this is...

So people understood as opposed to, oh, I need to know which chateau I need to buy, which domain or which, et cetera.

But now people are trying to go back and be curious, which is great, and find smaller properties, which don't necessarily, because a lot of the properties in the Côte de Bordeaux, for instance, are family owned and are very small.

Sorry, I got something stuck in my throat.

Honestly, you're allowed in our appellation to grow in the Reds.

What we have personally for the Reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot.

You're allowed to also plant Malbec.

And for four years, you've referred to me as Asian Jason, despite the fact that my name is Paul.

Last Monday, after your third glass of Merlot, you asked, where in the world is Matt Lauer, even though you were standing right next to him? A swamp, a bus depot, the panda enclosure of the Central Park Zoo.

These are just some of the places I have found you.

At the Today Show Christmas party, you kissed me on the forehead and whispered, I'm going to adopt you whether you like it or not.

It's a bit of a cyclical thing.

The US, for me, what they did is they made wine accessible because they started saying to people, this is a Merlot, this is a Cabernet, this is...

So people understood as opposed to, oh, I need to know which chateau I need to buy, which domain or which, et cetera.

But now people are trying to go back and be curious, which is great, and find smaller properties, which don't necessarily, because a lot of the properties in the Côte de Bordeaux, for instance, are family owned and are very small.

Sorry, I got something stuck in my throat.

Honestly, you're allowed in our appellation to grow in the Reds.

What we have personally for the Reds are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot.

You're allowed to also plant Malbec.

I think there is, yes.

I mean, obviously, we've got our best of continues this week, so we're looking at Merlot on Wednesday.

Oh, that's interesting.

There is one good story.