Good is Real…
Good is Cool!
Truly cool people stopped trying to be cool a long time ago. They figured out what they loved and let everyone else catch on. Jonathan Richman and the ironically named Modern Lovers were never going to swagger like Jagger, yet they wrote an iconic anthem like “Roadrunner” alongside gloriously geeky songs like “Rockin’ Rockin’ Leprechauns.” David Byrne turned awkwardness into art. Thom Yorke and Radiohead became cool by singing “I’m a Creep, I’m a weirdo!” The geeks became cool by shedding cool tropes and becoming themselves completely.
Merlot almost became a victim of cool. It earned its reputation as the more elegant version of Cabernet Sauvignon, grown and crafted by winemakers who cared. It was enjoyed by people in the know; it was their secret. Then it scored a hit with a Ducky wine and went mainstream; some would say it sold out. So instead of being that cool band you discover in a coffee house or a punk club, it became the Arena Rock of wine. Bigger, louder, more alcohol, more wood, more tannin. For a while, Merlot was everywhere. Then, almost overnight, it became the wine you weren’t supposed to drink. Like a great band with a money-hungry manager, it was manipulated into the Yacht Rock of wine. Merlot went from indie darling to something playing softly in the background at the country club.
The strange thing is that the wine geeks among us knew better. The vines kept growing. We didn’t care that it had fallen out of favor. We knew what we loved, and we kept on keeping on, farming it in the Carneros sun with morning fog and cooling afternoon winds off the bay.
Organically. Biodynamically. Regeneratively.
Not because those words are fashionable, but because a living farm makes better wine. We geek out on building the soil and encouraging life around the vines. We pay attention to what the vine needs and don’t ask it to be something it isn’t.
There is a temptation in wine, as in life, to become the version of yourself that gets the most applause. Bigger, louder, more impressive and more important. Merlot suffered for it.
RSVnapa Merlot never chased what was trendy or cool. It has always been good. Growing it in a cool place, with restraint and patience, we didn’t need to force it to become anything else. Generous but not blowsy. Dark-fruited and alive. Supple, savory, earthy yet bright.
The 2019 Merlot is simply the result of good farming, made without trying to turn it into something more important than itself. It’s good and maybe good is that simple. It just feels right before anyone tells you it is.
Perhaps that’s why it suddenly feels cool again.
The ultimate geek band Devo sings about everybody wanting a good thing in “That’s Good.”
Good is the meal you cook and the music you play, not because they’re fashionable but because you love ’em. And it’s the bottle you reach for because the geek in you knows what’s good.
Rob Sinskey
