Origin: Argentina

Year: 2007

Cost: $5.99

Rating: 5/10

Value: 6/10

Alcohol: 13%

Our opinion:

We were having a lot of guests over for a party and decided we needed to fill our wine rack for the first time in a while, and not necessarily with anything expensive, should we need to crack into it.  We stocked up on several Marcus James wines as well as a few Crane Lakes.  The Marcus James Merlot was still in the rack at the end of the party, and we tentatively broke into it on a random weeknight with low expectations and a backup plan of hard liquor.

Bleah.  There was really nothing nice to say about this wine.  Drink out of necessity.  Though we did agree it was a shade tastier than the Marcus James Cabernet Sauvignon, it wasn’t by much.  After the first sip, I passed the glass of wine back and forth through the Vinturi wine aerator about 5 times.  This seemed to slightly improve the taste and removed a bit of the bite to it.  Once it was smoothed out, we were able to finish our first glass, and about half of a second glass.

Unfortunately at the end of the night, wine still remained in the bottle.  Just like the Marcus James Cabernet.  Oh well… cooking wine?

As a side note, Marcus James has frequently been compared to the “two buck chuck” you can find in various places around the country.

Others Say:

Apparently there are other more positive reviews of this wine on the web, so maybe it’s up to you to decidel :

From winecurrent.com: “There are mixed spice, black plum and tarry aromas that segue smooth and plush flavours of black currant and ripe juicy black cherry. It’s medium in weight and texture with pleasing fruit flavours that carry through the balanced finish. It’s a lovely quaffing wine with the oomph and stuffing to pair with burgers, pizza, gourmet sausages and the like. Bistro-styled and uncomplicated, it warrants a buy given the attractive price-quality ratio.”