Higher-priced merlot should come with complex flavors

If you pay a higher price for an American merlot, you have a right to expect more layers of flavors, a complex wine with sophisticated texture and appeal.

In good merlot, you usually should expect to find flavors of plum fruit, sometimes jammy, with black cherries or blueberries. The texture should be lush and easy to drink without many rough edges.

Compared to cabernet sauvignon, merlot is less tannic (those chemicals in grapes that give wine structure over time, but can make your mouth pucker). That makes merlot easier to drink when you buy it from the shelf, but not as age-worthy as, well, as a tannic cabernet sauvignon.

I asked the wine-tasting group to compare five merlots costing about $20 or more. Here is what we found:

- 2000 Rombauer Vineyards Merlot at $29.99. Soft and elegant, this wine had an aroma of caramel and cream. In the mouth, it started out fruity sweet, but that sweetness quickly disappeared, giving way to an oakiness and a long finish.

- 2001 Murphy-Goode Merlot at $19.99. This wine had a candied fruit aroma. In the mouth, the sweet fruit attacked the senses with lots of ripe plum leading the way. Oak showed on the finish. The Murphy-Goode finished second in our tasting.

- 2000 Rutherford Hill Merlot at $24.99. The Rutherford Hill had lots of alcohol and oak in the nose, with hints of mint. The hotness from the alcohol carried over to the palate. The wine dried out the mouth. On the tongue, we tasted plum with a hint of chocolate. Tea appeared on the finish.

- 1999 Sterling, 3 Palms Vineyard Merlot $64.99. This wine had a complex aroma of jammy fruit, black cherries and blueberries with overtones of leather. The fruit was a lot less pervasive in the mouth as the taste of dried cherries dominated. We tasted orange on the finish.

- 2002 Sebastiani Alexander Valley Merlot at $22.99. This was a multilayered wine that was a pleasure to drink. The aroma was filled with prunes, iron and tea and a good bit of alcohol. In the mouth, we discovered a firm (with well-balanced tannins and acids), complex, dry wine with flavors of licorice and layers of fruit. The oak was present but not overdone. The Sebastiani ranked first in our tasting.

Surfing the wine shelves for values:

- 2002 Ecco Domani Chianti at $9.99. This wine had the traditional sangiovese flavors of cherries and spice. The fruit tasted fresh as opposed to ripe. We tasted pepper on the finish.

- 2002 Hanna Chardonnay at $17.99. This wine from California's Russian River Valley tasted of tropical fruit and vanilla. The texture was very creamy.

- 2000 Chateau Souverain Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at $20 offered black fruit and oak in the aroma. We tasted black cherries and chocolate on the palate.

- 2001 Rosemount Pinot Noir at $11. Red cherries mixed with wood smoke in the aroma. The wood carried over onto the palate with some dark fruit.

- 2002 Flora Springs Select Cuvee Chardonnay at $35. We smelled pear and tropical fruit in the aroma along with some vanilla from the oaking. Pineapple and peach flavors led to a long finish.

Questions can be sent to Frank Sutherland, editor, The Tennessean, 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 or e-mailed to editor