Kendall-Jackson Red Blend Sonoma County Meritage Grand Reserve 2006

I enjoy wine. I do not enjoy the pomp and circumstance that always seems to follow wine. I am therefore proud to report that my bottle of 2006 K-Jack Meritage was shared at a male-bonding campfire, and drank out of melamine cups. A few swigs were even taken directly from the bottle. Don't like my methods? Good... You can stop reading here. Anyway, the Meritage. I hate it when certain vintners (ahem*TheFrench*ahem) oak the tar outta wine, leaving you with little more than a mouthful of treetrunks and alcohol. That said, K-Jack really gets it right here, leaving you with a bit of woodiness, but not overpowering the character of the blend of grapes. Still, I would consider this a powerful wine, relatively high on tannins. The one drawback here? A surprising lack of complexity in my opinion. As an "American Bordeaux," so to speak, one would think the Meritage would provide a really unique wine experience. But frankly, I think it just tastes like a California Cabernet. Not that that's a terribly bad thing... I like Cabernet after all :). So, it's a very good wine, but not what I would call legendary, or radically different from what we usually see from an American Red. And despite my claim that it's a bit run-of-the-mill, i would still recommend trying it. After all, everyone's palate is different, right?

Four glasses

Cherry and leather nose. Bordeaux blend with good structure from the cabs and some nice blackberry fruits on the finish.

In 2009 its has a nice spice and earthy flavor. Its serves as a nice Bordeaux blend. I served it with pork tenderloin that had a mustard, rosemary and garlic rub.

Four glasses