In 1991 CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a show about wine and health called “The French Paradox”. Almost overnight red wine sales skyrocketed in the U.S. to four times what they had been the previous year. Ever since Prohibition, America’s wine industry had tried almost everything to turn our country into a nation of wine lovers, with not a lot of success. But after the show and the health claims about red wine, Americans began lining up for their daily dose of two glasses a day.

Merlot, described as a user friendly red wine for beginners, became the red wine of choice because of it’s soft texture, juicy fruit, low tannins and acidity. Rather than ordering a glass of red wine when out on the town a glass of Merlot became America’s ubiquitous order.

Plantings of Merlot in California went from 2000 acres in 1985 to over 48,000 by 2000. With this drastic and rapid increase, lots of simple and uninspiring “plonk” was produced. It seemed like you could slap a Merlot label on almost anything and it would sell!

Merlot’s instant success troubled the wine cognoscenti. The anti-Merlot sentiment crested in 2004 with the movie Sideways. A wine nerd, Miles (Paul Giamatti) is traveling in California with his pal Jack (Thomas Church). In the famous scene before heading out on the town in search of women… the dialogue goes like this:

“If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot,” says Jack, always on the make for an easy pickup.

“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving,” fumes Miles, the nerdy wine geek. “I am NOT drinking any (expletive) Merlot!”

After Sideways, America’s favorite red wine became un-cool to drink. Here in America, one’s wine choice is part fashion statement and who wants to order Merlot if it’s passé? But there is another side to the story of Merlot, and it would be a mistake to totally disregard this grape. There’s nothing wrong with Merlot, just what commercialization has done to it.

Here’s the bottom line… there’s plenty of good wine made from Merlot, but there’s lots of lousy wine too. If you buy your Merlot from a wine merchant you trust chances are you’ll enjoy the wine. Buy the generic, sale priced Merlot in the mass market and watch out!