Fort Cellars
Merlot 2012
Trader Joe’s
There’s a hint of vinegar on the cork and a medium-dark ruby color in the glass. The aroma of a crude red wine fills the air in the glass. Adding to the impression of a crude red wine is the dryish mouth feel of tannins, eventually leaving a semi-arid climate on the roof of the mouth. A more than bearable taste follows that. This is a classic table wine. A wine that’s not “refined” but ready for a tussle with a hearty bowl of stew and a chunk of bread torn from a long loaf. How would it stand up to a bowl of chili? The thought had never crossed my mind until now. Probably very well.
February 11, 2016
Some wines are meant to be sipped by themselves over idle conversation. This wine wasn’t made for that purpose. It’s a table wine to complement simple favorable food. This is a wine for a farmer, construction worker or similar callus-producing occupation, where the worker comes home cold, hungry and needing to relieve the aches in their body.
Hey! And what’s wrong with that? The only thing wrong is that few of us actually do any work like that. But then, some night after coming in from an hour of raking leaves from the lawn, put on your plaid flannel shirt and pretend.
I took my own advice using the wine to first deglaze a pot roast (recipe here) and then accompany the same at dinner. The dual purpose wine worked wonders. So I guess the calluses (location not mentioned in polite company), cultivated over many years of arduous TV watching in plaid flannel shirts qualify for this wine.
Slightly more seriously, I could not find other reviews for this wine on the net. Could this be the first review? Going out on a limb, in my opinion this is one of the few (maybe the only) inexpensive American wines that’s actually pretty good. If the quality holds up over the next several purchases this is a winning 5 dollar wine.
Fort Cellars
Merlot 2012
Trader Joe’s
Tags: fort cellars, merlot, price, review, reviews, tj, tj's, trader joe's, wine
Ain't Found A Good Title Blog 
02/19/2017 at 20:56 |
Thanks for taking the time to review this wine. We are attempting the 2013 tonight. We did decide to decant it though. I think its a good idea to do so. Agree, not a lot of fruit there, but it a great plaid shirt or plaid jammies dinner wine. We made a Moroccan chicken “tagine” in a cast iron skillet. I know, I know most Moroccans would not approve, we we left there 3+ years ago.
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02/19/2017 at 21:20 |
I hope 2013 is a good year for Fort Cellars. Cheers!
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01/14/2017 at 20:12 |
I’m always jealous you can go to a trader joes and buy wine. Communist New York will not allow us to :(. There is only one trader joes wine and I’d have to go to Manhattan.
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01/14/2017 at 20:22 |
Ah! So that explains why you don’t do wine reviews. I guess “liquor stores” still exist for wine and spirits. I don’t think they fall under communist though. It’s more like old fashion greed and corruption.
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01/14/2017 at 20:52
I’ll agree with you. Believe me it would be good for business, strangely enough I can by beer.
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01/14/2017 at 20:55
Yep. Grocery stores can sell beer and liquor stores can’t. At least that’s how it used to be. None of it makes sense. You’re missing some good wines from Trader Joe’s.
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01/14/2017 at 21:47
I know. I guess I’ll have to live vicariously through your blog
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02/11/2016 at 19:45 |
I like your review style, Steveo. Very authentic :). Would love to feature your reviews in our weekly curated email digest that goes out to thousands of people.
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02/11/2016 at 21:45 |
Thanks Elissa. I’ll take a look at the email digest and let you know.
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02/11/2016 at 22:09
Sure thing! If you let me know your email we’ll send the details. Thanks 🙂
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