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#MerlotMe Everyday
It’s not just for the month of October, you have my permission to enjoy Merlot any day of the week, any month of the year. Even with leftover pot roast. Maybe especially with leftover pot roast, it needs love, too! We all need to keep Merlot in our regular rotation of wines and food.

You know that decorative squash on your table is food, right?

The Merlot producers were generous with our Wine Pairing Weekend blogging group this year, so I had more than enough wine for several posts. The month was fast coming to a close and I had one more wine to try, but no time for a special meal. As I mentioned above, sometimes the wine can lift leftovers into another category.

Trig Point Merlot is a nice example of fruit forward, big flavor Merlot. Perfect for big flavor foods.

Goldschmidt Vineyards Trig Point Diamond Dust Vineyard Merlot 2014 ($18 SRP, online here)
Eye: Clear, medium intensity ruby with a bright purple edge. Legs stain a pale purple
Nose: Clean, bright, ripe blackberries, with sweet vanilla and caramel immediately behind.
Mouth: Medium+ intensity, bright ripe blue fruit and vanilla give an impression of sweetness. Medium- tannins, medium finish. A bit too much ripe fruit and oak for my general taste, but good with ribs.

A pairing challenge: spicy dry ribs with a sweet sauce on the side.

Trig Point Merlot with Smoked Pork Ribs
We have been smoking every food in sight this summer. Fortunately, that means we have lots of tasty leftovers in the freezer for busy weeknights. Tonight I pulled ribs from the freezer and roasted some squash. Just in time to bring in one more Merlot for a test.

Interesting: with “dry” ribs, the spiciness of the rub was a bit much for the tannins in the wine. When I dipped the ribs into a sweet Memphis type sauce, much better balance was achieved. The wine tasted dry and offset the ribs nicely! The roasted squash was earthy and carmelized in a delicious way, perfect for the ripe fruit in the Merlot.

Disclosure: The wine was provided by the winery as part of a #MerlotMe producers event with our Wine Pairing Weekend blogging group. All opinions expressed are mine.