February 22, 2018

Columbia Crest Merlot

The sun is shining in Georgia, it’s over seventy, and my daffodils are already in bloom.  I shudder, wondering when that last freeze is going to show up.   How many of the plants, budding too early, will it kill?  Or is this really going to be the year that we start summer by mid-March?

The weather doesn’t make me think about white wines just yet.  I’m still enjoying my full-bodied reds.

Columbia Crest, a regular bottle you can find most anywhere, fit that bill. I was looking for something smoky, I picked a Merlot.

Shortly after opening, this bottle earned a special spot in Affordable Wine Snob history – I poured it down the drain.  (I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve done that.)

The issue is hidden somewhere in the tannins and sulfites.  I have recently noticed that some wines will give me terrible headaches.  I could tell from the first sip this one was going to do that.

I’m not sure what is the exact culprit, but I can say for certain the headache comes more certainly from lesser expensive wines.  This one did it.  Another wine I’ve had before, Tall Dark Stranger, also did it but not so badly.  (As long as I stayed to one small glass, this TDS seems to be okay for now.)

I’ve seen sulfite removers and I have another friend who turns bright red if too much tannin is in the wine.  Maybe I’m developing something similar.

But even without the headache, this wine isn’t anything to write home about.  Too strong, too much body, and just…too much. 

Skip the Columbia Crest for something else.