TNR: Quails' Gate Limited Release Merlot 2004

Somone gave me a bottle last weekend. Have enjoyed a number of Quails' Gate wines over the years, but not the Merlot.

Does anyone have any recent experience with this? Would be most interested in food pairing suggestions.

Thanks.

[Jenise]

Bruce, nice gift. I've actually tasted this wine. I didn't take notes at the time, but I remember it being a Big Boy--ripe and somewhat extracted with a lot of licorice and dark chocolate stuff going on. Foodwise I'd go bold--BBQ beef ribs, that kind of thing.

Thanks Jenise. That is the sort of thing the back label advised, but I have learned to not always trust the back label of a bottle.

[Jenise]

Thanks Jenise. That is the sort of thing the back label advised, but I have learned to not always trust the back label of a bottle.

I hear you. But you can generally rely, from what I've tasted, on Quail's Gate Limited Releases to be more steroidal than not. I don't even think they make the LRs of every varietal every year vs making them only when they get the kind of fruit that would support a release.