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White merlot


BeeR
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Had this some time back and can't recall name - was from France and a short name, I think I might know it if I heard it. Only white merlot I ever had and was very good IMO. Thought you might have a clue.

The only "white" merlot I ever heard of was actually a rose made by some fake winery (aka one of the myriad labels created to sell off bulk juice from Central CA. Turning Leaf or some such) to somehow capitalize on the White Zin and Merlot phenomenons. I never tried it.

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Had this some time back and can't recall name - was from France and a short name, I think I might know it if I heard it. Only white merlot I ever had and was very good IMO. Thought you might have a clue.

 

Hey BeeR... I think the White Merlot you probably had was Fortant. It is in the Languedoc region which does not grow the Zinfandel grape, so in the early 90's they invented "White Merlot" to take advantage of the White Zinfandel fad. I think there are sone domestic producers like Beringer and it's pretty inexpensive.

 

Cheers!

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Hey BeeR... I think the White Merlot you probably had was Fortant. It is in the Languedoc region which does not grow the Zinfandel grape, so in the early 90's they invented "White Merlot" to take advantage of the White Zinfandel fad. I think there are sone domestic producers like Beringer and it's pretty inexpensive.

 

Cheers!

 

Spot on.

 

White Merlot= White Zinfandel

 

Enjoy . . .:wacko:

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Hey BeeR... I think the White Merlot you probably had was Fortant. It is in the Languedoc region which does not grow the Zinfandel grape, so in the early 90's they invented "White Merlot" to take advantage of the White Zinfandel fad. I think there are sone domestic producers like Beringer and it's pretty inexpensive.

 

Cheers!

Pretty sure that's not it. This was not a "cheap" wine and was not sweet (or had only the merest hint of it). I was at a (private) wine tasting and had already had some though, so I won't say it's 100% impossible. :wacko: Thx

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The place I bar tend at offers a nice range of wine and I would have to say that White Zin gets requested the least of all . In order I would say from most popular to least it goes like this

 

 

Red

 

1. Cabernet

2. Merlot

3. Pinot Noir

4. Shiraz

5. Red Zin

6. Chianti

 

White

 

1. Pinot Grigio

2. Chardonnay

3. Sauvignon Blanc

4. White Zin

5. Reisling (rising in popularity though getting ordered more and more each week )

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From what I recall getting wine at a bar is like getting a tub o BBQ in the grocery store. Mostly there's just the cheaper stuff and most of those who would get it there don't know/care about the diff anyway. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally.

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From what I recall getting wine at a bar is like getting a tub o BBQ in the grocery store. Mostly there's just the cheaper stuff and most of those who would get it there don't know/care about the diff anyway. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally.

I believe whomper's bar is part of a country club of sorts, so I would imagine it would fit into the "exceptions" that you alluded to.

 

None the less, I agree to a large part and would even include one of my restaurants, the Mexican one. I opened with a smallish wine list but have continued to pare it down to the point where I basically have 3 whites, 3 reds, and one sparkling. All by the glass. Because I care about wine, they're all good wines, but like you said, most of the people who care about what they're drinking when they come here will either order a cocktail or from the very extensive beer list. People who order wine, just order it because they don't really care and "that's what they drink".

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while not "white merlot" a rose from Provence might interest you:

 

http://www.provencewineusa.com/

 

 

got my wife hooked on dry rose 10-11 years ago. almost exclusively what she orders when we go out if they offer one. while california has started to produce more dry rose over the past 5-7 years, i don't know them well enough to trust that they'll be dry (when in a store). so this has led us to buy rose from france: provence, the rhone, and langueduoc. great summer whites and very versatile imo.

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got my wife hooked on dry rose 10-11 years ago. almost exclusively what she orders when we go out if they offer one. while california has started to produce more dry rose over the past 5-7 years, i don't know them well enough to trust that they'll be dry (when in a store). so this has led us to buy rose from france: provence, the rhone, and langueduoc. great summer whites and very versatile imo.

My beef with CA roses is that the good ones are always kind of pricy compared to what you can get from Europe. They all start off as these culty side projects that are only available in the tasting rooms and then they bleed onto the general marketplace. But they come to me at $15 or more wholesale, which makes them nearly 2x the price of what I can get from Spain, Italy, and France.

 

I can see why they do well in the tasting room, because roses are tasty and, if you're trying a bunch of fancy Cali juice and have a few drinks in you, you're going to grab the tasty rose because it's $10-$20 less than the Chardonnay or reds. But on their own merits, they just don't represent a value to me.

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My beef with CA roses is that the good ones are always kind of pricy compared to what you can get from Europe. They all start off as these culty side projects that are only available in the tasting rooms and then they bleed onto the general marketplace. But they come to me at $15 or more wholesale, which makes them nearly 2x the price of what I can get from Spain, Italy, and France.

 

I can see why they do well in the tasting room, because roses are tasty and, if you're trying a bunch of fancy Cali juice and have a few drinks in you, you're going to grab the tasty rose because it's $10-$20 less than the Chardonnay or reds. But on their own merits, they just don't represent a value to me.

 

 

i would agree, and also add that i believe there is generally more value in european wine over north american (and food for that matter)

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I believe whomper's bar is part of a country club of sorts, so I would imagine it would fit into the "exceptions" that you alluded to.

 

None the less, I agree to a large part and would even include one of my restaurants, the Mexican one. I opened with a smallish wine list but have continued to pare it down to the point where I basically have 3 whites, 3 reds, and one sparkling. All by the glass. Because I care about wine, they're all good wines, but like you said, most of the people who care about what they're drinking when they come here will either order a cocktail or from the very extensive beer list. People who order wine, just order it because they don't really care and "that's what they drink".

 

Really? So only people who "care about what they are drinking" only order cocktails and beer? :wacko:

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Really? So only people who "care about what they are drinking" only order cocktails and beer? :wacko:

 

 

i don't think he was saying that..... sounded like for the mexican restaurant there is a smaller niche that "cares" about pairing wine with mexican food vs bier/cocktails. so he is providing lower end wines (though prob a step above other house wines).

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I believe whomper's bar is part of a country club of sorts, so I would imagine it would fit into the "exceptions" that you alluded to.

 

There are country clubs, and then there are Country Clubs.

 

Most country clubs roll out wines with huge profit margins for banquets. The good stuff is for members, and generally dont make a lot of money as most private country clubs lose monety every year in F & B.

 

For example, my "banquet wines" for weddings were Sycamore Lane. It is ok for a very very cheap house wine, but is made for value, not quality.

 

Now on the member side I would pour Chimney Rock Cab, Paraduxx and Nickel and Nickel by the glass, because the members loved it. I would get crap for profit margin, but that isnt the main driver, members satisfaction was.

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I believe whomper's bar is part of a country club of sorts, so I would imagine it would fit into the "exceptions" that you alluded to.

 

 

Our place is a banquet facility. We dont offer an extensive variety of each . Its basically 1 maybe 2 different brands of each. People do drink a fair amount of wine at these events but it isnt like a restaurant where I can show you 7 different types of merlot. It is basically like BP said . It is usually a brand called Coastal Vines which isnt expensive

 

As an aside I cant tell you how many people actually come up and just say give me a glass of red or white. If its cocktail hour and we have 300-600 people slamming us I dont ask what kind of red or white . Ill just pour merlot /chard or pinot grigio.

 

Some nationalities are hugh wine drinkers. Portuguese pound wine

Edited by whomper
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i don't think he was saying that..... sounded like for the mexican restaurant there is a smaller niche that "cares" about pairing wine with mexican food vs bier/cocktails. so he is providing lower end wines (though prob a step above other house wines).

This.

 

Time and place. As you can imagine, I've got a bunch of friends and colleagues who love wine. And when they're at Jujube, they often order it, because there's a wine culture there. But not at Dos Perros. And it's not for lack of effort. Again, when we opened, our wine list was brief but was still better than you'd find in most any other Mexican place.

 

Only, absolutely nobody ordered anything but the glass pours if they ordered wine at all. I'd do $2K in beverage sales and like $150 of it was wine. And it's not that nobody liked wine. Again, these were the same people who'd be at the French Bistro around the corner the previous week drinkinbg wine. But they weren't drinking wine here. In fact, when I decided to ditch the bottle placements, it wasn't even a matter of not ordering it any more, because it literally wasn't selling at all. So I just bought it all and took it home.

 

In general, the people who order wine at Dos Perros will order it without looking at the menu. "Do you have a Sauvignon Blanc? Yes? Great, I'll have that."

 

So, yes. By and large, the people who order wine at Dos Perros don't care as much about what they're drinking.

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i don't think he was saying that..... sounded like for the mexican restaurant there is a smaller niche that "cares" about pairing wine with mexican food vs bier/cocktails. so he is providing lower end wines (though prob a step above other house wines).

 

You know that you ruined a perfectly good 4 page essay in rebuttal by making this post right?

 

dagnabit . . . . .no :wacko: for me today

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