{"id":207,"date":"2014-09-09T21:18:59","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T01:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/?p=207"},"modified":"2024-04-21T15:16:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T19:16:51","slug":"silver-fork-merlot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/silver-fork-merlot\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Fork Merlot — Wine Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight’s wine took us by a bit of a surprise. \u00a0The Silver Fork Merlot can definitely change one’s opinion that the east coast doesn’t produce good Merlot. \u00a0Normally when you think of Merlot, you imagine a big bold red wine with a complex yet robust profile and distinctive characteristics. \u00a0Typically, you would be right. \u00a0This particular bottle of the 2012 Merlot from Silver Fork<\/a> is anything but “typical”. \u00a0<\/p>\n

After pouring the wine into a decanter, I sampled it immediately (I like to know what I’m getting into). \u00a0My first impression was something of a shock. \u00a0Did I open a Mourvedre on accident? \u00a0I double checked the bottle and found that I did in fact open the Merlot. \u00a0So I sipped again; this time I closed my eyes and let my sense of smell and taste take over. \u00a0Upon first sniff, I noted a light cranberry aroma mixed with a bit of dried grass. \u00a0The flavors were subtle and shifty moving from faint raspberry into a more robust boxy flavor. \u00a0I decided that it was indeed a Merlot. \u00a0So I finished my sample and placed the decanter on the table to await dinner.<\/p>\n

With the food, we were even more perplexed. \u00a0Under more proper lighting, we noted the wine was a bit more cloudy (not in a bad way but in an “unfiltered” way) and definitely not as deep and dark as one would expect. \u00a0Pairing it with the grilled turkey mini-meatloafs intensified the meaty notes of the wine and made it seem almost juicy. \u00a0We continued\u00a0to eat and drink the wine all the while pondering how a Merlot could change itself so much.<\/p>\n

Dinner soon ended and with that came the cleanup one normally associates with a home-cooked meal. \u00a0This meant more time in the decanter for the wine and more time for our taste buds to brush off any remaining food flavors. \u00a0By this time, the wine has been open for nearly two hours. \u00a0Plenty of time to take in some oxygen and relax. \u00a0The nose has developed a bit more, exposing the red berries and vegetative notes. \u00a0The tannins have developed as well, however it is still not as bold as most Merlot.<\/p>\n

Overall impressions of the Silver Fork Merlot are favorable. \u00a0It is delicious and delightful. \u00a0It is easy to drink and very approachable. \u00a0I would recommend the wine and I trust\u00a0our next bottle will be\u00a0just as enjoyable.<\/p>\n

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Check out our other NC Wine Month postings:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Tonight’s wine took us by a bit of a surprise. \u00a0The Silver Fork Merlot can definitely change one’s opinion that the east coast doesn’t produce good Merlot. \u00a0Normally when you think of Merlot, you imagine a big bold red wine with a complex yet robust profile and distinctive characteristics. \u00a0Typically, you would be right. \u00a0ThisContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[379],"tags":[102,81,203,261,209,254,151],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-cellar","tag-merlot","tag-nc-wine","tag-nc-wine-month-2014","tag-red-wine","tag-silver-fork-winery","tag-wine-review","tag-wnc-wine-trail","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11261,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/11261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}