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Don’t judge a book by its cover, they say—does the same go for wine? Ever found yourself grabbing a bottle based just on the label, or the price alone? Here at WW, we decided to group a few staffers together, pick a few wide-ranging merlots, and stick them in paper bags and see what people liked or didn’t like based purely on taste.
While we had a few pros around the table aiming to guess the grape (no one did, but some landed regions), we also had drinkers who said, with full sincerity, things like:
“It tastes like I’m going to get a headache.”
“My favorite grape is gewürztraminer—but to eat.”
“Is wine a superfood?”
Factor that in how you will, reader. Here’s how things went for the WW taste test:
Tie for 1st:
Le Doubble Troubble Columbia Valley Merlot Dry Hollow Vineyard 2022
Cost guesstimate: $17-$28
Actual price: $30
The breakdown: This was a crowd-pleasing easy sipper, with notes of raspberry and plum. While a portion of the staffers guessed this was a local wine, some thought they were drinking a pinot noir. Regardless of the grape, the consensus was this would work for a tableful of people, so consider it if you’ve got a dinner party on the horizon.
Tasters’ notes: “You guys getting blood?”
“I put ‘blood of my enemies.’”
Charles Shaw Merlot 2023 (Two-Buck Chuck)
Cost guesstimate: $12-$30
Actual price: $3.49
The breakdown: A fancy winery, a divorce and a bankruptcy later, the world got two-buck chuck, which now rings in closer to $4 (still a bargain). A few said it smelled cheap (which was mostly a compliment), but the taste was fruit punchy, a little sweet, begging for an ice cube dunked in to sip at a picnic as the days heat up and linger.
Tasters’ notes: “Well, this is a horse of a different color.” “My tasting notes are vinegar, lollipop, wet.”
Last place:
Chateau Gueyrosse Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2015
Cost guesstimate: $14-$30
Actual price: $38
The breakdown: Now, maybe it needed more time to breathe (we did eventually decant it in a French press), or maybe it was a hair past its prime, but this one (85% merlot, the rest cab and cab franc) didn’t quite sing the same as the others. Tasting notes of compost and smoke were tossed around—no one said they wouldn’t drink it again.
Tasters’ notes: “This one fucks.”
“Tastes like my last situationship—sweet, cheap.”