I bought the 1986 Vendange Merlot in August of 1989 for $3.97 a bottle, and drank most of the case a long time ago. This 12.5% alcohol Californian wine was Vinted and Bottled by the Sonoma Vendange Winery of which I know very little. The 29 year old Merlot still had some fruit; plum and blackberry but the oak was dominate. It was fine with a Reuben Sandwich for dinner along with a nice salad.

I try to encourage friends to cellar some wines to see how they develop. For three bucks, this wine scored a 14+ on the Dionysian scale of 20; respectable, and it still had red brick color with hints of orange on the edge. Expected. I decanted off a load of sediment and the wine finished very softly.

A note I had when it was much younger said it had some currant and blueberry aromas. Now, the American oak overshadows everything. I continue to say that 12% to 14% alcohol wines age best.  I haven’t seen this winery in decades and guess that they bought surplus wine to bottle. “Grown, produced and bottles by,” are the best words to see on a wine label. I don’t think the term, “vinted and bottled by,” as this one says, has any legal status. In vino veritas.