Tasting - Sterling Meritage

Sterling Meritage

After a wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar, some friends and I asked if Randy could make us a mystery bag of wine for fun! We asked for 4 wines to total around $40-$60, and when we got back to someone's house, we decided to open this wine first and try it! It's a Sterling Vintner's Meritage from Napa Valley, California. It was a 2022, and since it's a Meritage, it has Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Petit Verdot grapes in it. It was around $11. 

From Wine Folly:

It had flavors of "Black Cherry, Black Current, Blackberry", it was "more acidic and had rustic tannins" (Page 89) from the Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine did also have "bold fruity flavors and [a] smooth chocolatey finish" (Page 125) from the Malbec. 

From the Wine Enthusiast:

"This Merlot-based blend tastes fruity, lightly oaked and full of jammy, appealing flavors. It is medium to full bodied, very smooth in texture and shows very little tannin. — Jim Gordon"

From Musings on the Vine:

"Lively, jammy nose with fresh cherry, red berry and explosive floral hints. Medium-bodied with moderate acidity and soft, supple tannin – good balance. Dark fruit core with loads of black cherry, blackberry jam and tarry, chocolate notes – very juicy. Moderate length with a smooth, simple, infinitely quaffable finish. Drinking well – not for aging… at all. Great value, at the marked down price, less so at its full retail price."

My Personal Review:

For a red wine, I actually enjoyed this! I fear that I'm starting to enjoy reds now, even by themselves... It is a little heavy on the tannins as it does dry out your tongue quite a bit but it is fairly balanced and not too alcoholic. I drank a glass by itself and it was pretty good but if I ate meat and had this with a meal, this would be so good! There were fruity berry notes in it that I enjoyed, but I'm not good at this wine tasting thing yet, where I can taste subtle flavors or secondary notes. I mainly just taste sugar, alcohol, and 1 or 2 flavors.