Tasted this tonight post dinner as I had to eat in a hurry.
The color is a medium red and the wine is free of sediment and clear. About 15 minutes after opening the nose is moderately strong and is full of plum and blackberry and slight bit of alcohol.
On the tongue its dry, medium bodied, a little flabby but comes across as smooth. The tannins are present and are medium but round on the tongue which makes them less noticeable. The fruit from the nose is initially present and fades to a bit of chocolate and a woodsy note that I am at a loss to describe, it doesn’t come across as oak although it was probably imparted by oak barrels or chips.
A couple hours later the wine has developed a bit and has taken on a more red fruit nose with the dominate note being cherry. The finish was the same as it was earlier but now more chocolate and less of the wood. It also picked up a bit of tartness.
This is one of the lighter bodied Merlots I have had and I liked the weight of it, I found it tasty with out being too heavy and would accompany a wider range of food than your typical California Merlot. That said, I found the wine a bit disjointed and even a bit harsh as it opened up. Some additional acid might have helped tie it together better and would make it a better wine IMHO. I’m assuming the price on this will be sub $10 a bottle and I think its pretty good at that price point but definitely would be disappointed at more than that.
Not bad, not great. but at the price point you would do worse pulling any merlot off of the supermarket shelf.