Black Swan Merlot '06 '07

Vineyard: Black Swan
Location: South Eastern Australia
Type: Merlot
Vintage: 2006 and 2007
Alcohol Content: 13.5%

Purchased: 11/30/08 - BevMo, San Francisco, CA
Cost: $4.99
Rating: '06: 7.66/10, '07: 6.66

Double header Sunday! I wanted to get a sense of whether or not there was any real difference if the only difference is the year. Turns out, there is. I'm assuming that the '06 has just been sitting on the shelf an extra year, rather than being aged in a cask for the extra time - but I have no real way of knowing that. I also have no way of knowing whether the '06 would have tasted different last year... these, the unanswerable questions of wine drinking.

What I do know, however, is that the good people of Black Swan probably would have done better focusing on the grapes rather than worrying about their label. Wine 2.0. They should also try to get their money back from whoever they paid to do the write up on the back of the bottle: "...with a velvet finish like a jazz solo 'round midnight." Really? You guys really thought that sounded good? Who knows, maybe it does in Australia.

Regardless, they were both actually pretty tasty. The 07 tasted a bit more acidic and alcoholic, the 06 a bit smoother, creamier. If you can find them both, it was fun drinking both and trying to figure out the difference. You also get to drink twice as much!