Merlot

where many forays into the world of wine often begin, and we're starting with a multiple-choice quiz.

What is the most cultivated grape variety in France? Is it A, Pinot Noir, of Burgundy and Champagne fame? Is it B, Chardonnay, also of Burgundy and Champagne fame, and hello, Chablis? What about C, Cabernet Sauvignon of Bordeaux legends? Or D, the Rhone Valley's Syrah? Or E, Merlot of Right Bank, Bordeaux Legends.

And the movie Sideways, Scorn.

So of course it's E, Merlot, since it's in the name of this episode and you clearly clicked on it.

Or you maybe just like the way I spelled the F word.

Or maybe you're one of those people like Paul Giamatti's character Miles in the 2004 film Sideways.

And I quote, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving.

I'm not drinking any fucking Merlot.

We discovered within ten minutes a joint scepticism about forced community togetherness, block parties, networking brunches, icebreaker games.

We laughed so hard I spilled half my glass of Merlot, which he tried to dab up with an off-brand napkin, muttering something about tragedies of design.

After that, coffee felt easy.

We talked seriously, but not self-seriously, both of us admitting to weekends spent solo, Netflix as a background hum, a few half-remembered college friends.

Uh, yeah, so that's basically it.

It would make s- it would make sense though if he was from Bordeaux, 'cause with the Merlots and Cab Sauvignons and...

Like, I guess it makes sense that he would've brought these, these grapes with him, I guess so.

Probably.

starts drinking straight out of it.

By the way, you know that movie, he does not like Merlot.

No, I'm not drinking any.

You know that completely tanked Merlot sales in the

country? Yeah, that movie was very influential that way.

It sure was.

And certainly they have, like they've planted the wrong grapes, the wrong areas.

And for a long time, it was all about Merlot.

And then, you know, a certain movie came out and people started ripping out Merlot.

But that's, that's sort of the beauty and the brilliance of the American way is you There are no restrictions, really.

They can just do whatever.

Quality control.

So we have in front of us three different bottles of 2015 Old Vines Merlot from Lenz.

The first one that we're tasting is from a natural cork, and you can very clearly see that on the natural cork, you know, in some of the spots, the wine has actually bled up the cork a little bit, whereas compared to the DM cork, it is...

You can almost draw a perfect circle around the bottom of the cork where you can see it's come in contact with the wine.

And so we are coming out with more oxygen transfers.

We have a new innovation called Move, which is an innovation where you can literally choose the oxygen you want.

So we're tasting this Merlot today.

My question for you would be how much oxygen would you like per year? Not that you know the answer.