Nathanson Creek Merlot

Another experimental purchase instigated by a ridiculously low clearance price. In this case, $5.99 for a 1.5 liter bottle. That, my friend, is a cheapskate price. And it has a cartoon frog on the label, so before opening it, there are a couple handicap points in its favor.

Nathanson Creek Cellars apparently once had a website, because I found some links to it, but all were dead ends. So all I could find was a most skeletal overview. It’s one of the horses in Constellation’s stable (a barn filled with about 70 wine names), and is from Lodi, California in the Lodi-Woodbridge area just west of San Francisco, an area noted for their Zinfandels. I don’t know if there ever was a Nathanson or a Creek, or if the name is just a boardroom concoction. I learned there is a Lodi company called Turner Road Vintners, again, a Constellation asset, that produces several higher end labels as well as producing wine for Woodbridge by Mondavi, one of the California giants headquartered just up the road. Nathanson Creek is, apparently, their budget priced, cheapskate brand.

In any event, we opened (and consumed) the first of the two bottles I bought a few days ago, and opened the 2^nd last evening. Not bad, not great, ok though. It smells good, is smooth enough, not a lot of fruit definition or detail though. I just rolled some around in my mouth….no bite or bitterness, mild acidity, OK.

When I was digging around the web trying to find out who Nathanson Creek was, I found another reviewer of this same wine that needs her head-or tongue-examined. She hated it…said it was brown in her glass, smelled strong of alcohol, and tasted sour. Either she opened it a week before trying it, or she was drinking her husbands cheap cologne by mistake because it ain’t so. There’s some in front of me now. It sure isn’t brown-it’s dark violet, and smells like raisins or plums. This isn’t dance on the table, call the neighbors, alert the media good, but is enjoyable and drinkable. And boy was it cheap!