Tried at the local WineStyles tonight. A restrained and appealing wine. 14.1% abv, about $30.
The Meritage was my favorite wine of the night (although the Zin was balanced and the Barbara had nice racy red fruit). The Sauvignon Blanc was very rich and creamy-not oak, though, but a creamy semillon clone. Not sure how I felt about this wine, as I'm so used to austere racy, acidic and crisp SB.
Anyway-to the Meritage:
Dark red-black in the glass. Not a lot of oak on the nose (hurrah) Very much a black fruit character on the palette-nice touch of a little bit of savoriness here. Definitely a very dry, somehwat austere wine-and there's some teeth-staining tannins here tonight.
The odd thing is they do use some American oak along with the French-there is just a tiny hint of dill buried underneath. Not a lot of new oak (30%??) It's pretty restrained, and I enjoyed this wine quite a bit.
***+