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Index:Wine Forum: Are Chardonnay and Merlot the king of grapes?  New Post
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rickie
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Quote  Posted: 10/25/2004 5:44:35 PM GMT Next MessageTop of Page
I have always asked myself why most of producers use Chardonnay and Merlot in their wines. Saved France where these two grapes are from, I wonder why they are so popular in other countries. Chardonnay is good and Merlot is good as well. What about other grapes? In my opinion they are as good as Chardonnay and Merlot.
As every wine maker seems to be so fond of these two grapes, I soon expect someone to make a new wine made of Chardonnay and Merlot blended together!
Don't you think they should also pay attention to other grapes in order to provide different wines and different opportunities to wine lovers?
Richard Johnson
antonello
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Quote  Posted: 10/28/2004 6:09:39 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
Well, the idea of making a wine from Chardonnay and Merlot could be a very appealing idea to many wine makers, I am sure, in case someone read your post, we will see something like that pretty soon!
Chardonnay is a good grape and Merlot is a good grape as well. There are so many wonderful wines out there which can prove this, however - I do agree with you - there also are other excellent grapes which can be used for making wine.
I certainly think the wine world should pay more attention to other good grapes as well, although in my opinion the reason why they are using Merlot and Chardonnay so much is simply commercial. Chardonnay and Merlot wines sell better, sad to admit, it seems they are the only wines most of consumers are interested into. This also let speculation to prevail over other aspects and this is a loss for every serious wine lover.
One of the amazing parts of wine is diversity and this is a chance every country can provide. Let's take Italy, for example. It has about five hundreds different grapes each of them having its own qualities and peculiarities. Well, the popularity of Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon is so high which shadowed Italian local grapes in many regions. Sangiovese, one of the most famous red berried grapes of Italy, is in most of the cases blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and the same is happening for other grapes as well. The result is usually pretty evident: so many wines which taste all the same. It is neither a good point nor fun.
Antonello Biancalana
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jimmy
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Quote  Posted: 11/02/2004 11:03:14 AM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I personally love both Chardonnay and Merlot and I believe they are magnificent grapes. Anyway I do not think they are the king of grapes even though it is clear they are very important. I also love Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, however I do not think they are kings. I think it would make sense to talk about a particular grape being the king in a particular area. If you consider Chablis to be a nice wine because of the Chardonnay grape, I am sure all of you would agree not all Chardonnay in the world is as good as Chablis.
I think every area of the world should focus on their local grapes as we do in France. After all if that grape has chosen to live in that area, there must be a reason!
cathy
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Quote  Posted: 11/04/2004 6:13:22 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
Merlot and Chardonnay are two of my favorites, in particular I like their smothness. However I do not think they are the kings of grapes and I think Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are two wonderful wines. Maybe it is because we are so used to see these two grapes in wines that we end up thinking they are the only grapes available in the world?
I tend to agree with jimmy when he says we should pay more attention to wine areas. The same grape gives different results in other areas, therefore I think it is pretty hard to tell what grape can be considered as a king.
Cathy
wineguy
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Quote  Posted: 11/08/2004 6:23:42 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I do not know whether Merlot and Chardonnay are the kings of grapes, what I know is they make great wines! I love the smooth and velvety mouthfeel of both wines and I think this is hard to find in other wines. Of course I love other wines as well, however I think Merlot and Chardonnay can make superb wines.
Steve
joergwein
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Quote  Posted: 11/15/2004 6:08:40 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
What about Riesling? If it is true Chardonnay is the king of white grapes, then I believe Riesling is a king as well. Besides this, I don't think we can say such grapes are kings because it also depends on the area they are being made in. I am not saying Chardonnay and Merlot ate not good, we all know they can make wonderful wines, but in my opinion they are not the only ones. After all it is just a matter of personal tastes.
Jörg - A passion for Italian wine!
miclan
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Quote  Posted: 11/17/2004 6:08:30 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I do not think anyone can tell what is the king of grapes as well as the king of wines. Every grape and every wine has a sense of itself and whether you may consider them king or not largely depends on many factors. You may think a grape (or wine) is a king in a particular time and then you can find out that very same grape or wine is just a peasant in another occasion. The same is true, of course, for a very same wine of a very same producer.
There are grapes better than others, but this depends on the producer, vintage and area. That's why I do not think Chardonnay and Merlot can be considered kings of grapes because I could list other excellent grapes which I could consider as good as those.
Michele Landolfi
cas29
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Quote  Posted: 11/25/2004 5:25:29 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
Well, I agree that Merlot and Chardonnay can be superb wines, but kings??? maybe part of the royal family - but it is a big family.

personally while they are good stand-bys I really do enjoy trying wines made with other grapes ---
Canadian-- but living in Italy
rickie
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Quote  Posted: 11/30/2004 11:03:18 AM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
cas29 wrote:
Well, I agree that Merlot and Chardonnay can be superb wines, but kings??? maybe part of the royal family - but it is a big family.

personally while they are good stand-bys I really do enjoy trying wines made with other grapes ---

I just wanted to be a little provocative and of course I agree with you. Merlot and Chanronnay can make superb wines and I too agree the "royal family" is pretty big.
However I can see most of the wines are made with these two grapes and sometimes it seems these are the only two grapes available for making wines.
I too love trying different wines and different grapes, but at least here in England, it is not easy because most of the wines you see in stores are just like that.
That's why I asked myself whether Chardonnay and Merlot are the kings of grapes.
Richard Johnson
cathy
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Quote  Posted: 12/06/2004 6:00:50 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
cas29 wrote:
Well, I agree that Merlot and Chardonnay can be superb wines, but kings??? maybe part of the royal family - but it is a big family.

personally while they are good stand-bys I really do enjoy trying wines made with other grapes ---

I completely agree with you. Merlot and Chardonnay can make superb wines and the royal family is quite big.
Like you, I too love to enjoy wines made with other grapes and in particular the ones uknown to me.
Cathy
jimmy
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Quote  Posted: 12/29/2004 6:02:03 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I agree with you all the royal family is quite big, but Chardonnay and Merlot certainly are to the top list of this family. Not to mention Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, his majesty the finesse!
Of course I do not want to say these are the only grapes woth trying, but I love the wines made of them.
joergwein
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Quote  Posted: 01/07/2005 11:05:31 AM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I think every grape is a king in a way or another. There are so many grapes out there, it is so hard to tell what is the best. I love Riesling, but this grapes may become ordinary when its wines are being produced in non pretty good areas. I think the same can be said for every other grape, including Chardonnay and Merlot. After all, what world this would be if we all could have only two grapes?
Jörg - A passion for Italian wine!
antonello
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Quote  Posted: 01/14/2005 11:08:13 AM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
Every grape certainly is a king in its style. If we just see one or two grapes while excluding all the rest, we are comdemned to always drink the same wines and this would be boring on the long run. The world is full of wonderful grapes, that's why we should enjoy each of them and in its best style. Merlot can make great wine as well as Chardonnay, but I would not personally stop this list with these two grapes as it may include hundreds of names!
Antonello Biancalana
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jc
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Quote  Posted: 01/20/2005 8:36:31 AM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
I see this topic has been quiet for a "while". What the heck...l should include my feedback as well then. Well, Chardonnay is certainly a very popular variety. That's why it has been called "international grape" as many countries grow it along with other equally popular varieties like Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Shiraz.

I believe it has something to do with fashion. Years ago, I believe everyone thought only wines with oak are good but now, people are staying away from over-oaked wines like oaky Chards. People are even going to the extent of ABC (Anything But Chardonnay).

It would be interesting to see what is termed as king of grapes in a few years to come. My guess is one cannot be a king forever!!

Cheers!
cathy
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Quote  Posted: 01/25/2005 5:10:39 PM GMT Previous MessageNext MessageTop of Page
jc wrote:
I believe it has something to do with fashion. Years ago, I believe everyone thought only wines with oak are good but now, people are staying away from over-oaked wines like oaky Chards. People are even going to the extent of ABC (Anything But Chardonnay).

I think you are right. Fashion has something to do with it. And it is also true what you say about the ABC rule although it seems pretty hard to change. At least my friends still like over-oaked Chardonnays and they do not like the "foxy" character of Sauvignon Blanc, for example. To tell you the truth, I had enough of all those over-oaked stuff!

jc wrote:
It would be interesting to see what is termed as king of grapes in a few years to come. My guess is one cannot be a king forever!!

Cheers!

Of course no one can be a king forever, although now the kings seem to be Chard and Melot. Who's next? Well, that's hard to tell...
Cathy
maxtrek
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Quote  Posted: 05/17/2005 6:01:47 PM GMT Previous MessageTop of Page
I think it makes no sense to tell what grapes should be considered kings. Every grape is a king of itself and it makes sense in the area and in the culture of any place. In case we want to tell what grape should be a king, I think the list could be very long! What about Nebbiolo? Anyone there who believes Barolo or Barbaresco are not magnificent wines having nothing less than Merlot??
Max

Index:Wine Forum: Are Chardonnay and Merlot the king of grapes?  New Post

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