The color is a bright ruby that may be a little light for a merlot. Indeed, this isn’t a big wine, which is OK, since you can’t afford to buy anything big and hearty to have with it anyway. This is a red for chicken, tofu, pasta, and the like.

The nose has lots of cherry, berry, enough eucalyptus for a koala bear, spice and light herbs.

The flavors that come through are those of a lot of fruit and not a lot else. That’s because this wine never sees oak. It’s “aged” in stainless steel tanks, which makes it a rare opportunity to taste what Chilean merlot juice tastes like in a more pure form. In this case, it means tons of sweet cherry, berry and a bit of plum.

The finish doesn’t last forever, but for about $4 I’d be truly amazed if it did.

Put bluntly, this isn’t the best wine you’ll have this year, but it might be the cheapest (unless you’re a Two Buck Chuck fan). Right now, cheap is what you want. After all, you’ve got to save up for the 2004 holiday season.

Cheers,
TSW

* - Unemployment Wine is a WoW designation given to bottles that cost $5 or less, yet taste like you spent a good deal more (or at least a bit more). These aren't Chimp Wines, but they'll keep you in palatable vino until the economy recovers.

Face it: you’re broke. You’ve really been broke since December 25, but the festive holiday air prevented you from feeling it or caring.

Everything you bought was paid for with plastic, which has a detached, numbing effect. Now, you anticipate the weighty “thud” at your front door: The arrival of your credit card statement including all your December purchases.

Surveying your surroundings, you begin to think about what you bought that maybe you could return. Sure, you didn’t really need the Karate Kid “Collector’s Edition” DVD box set, but the Ralph Macchio action figure that came free with purchase is already on your desk at work. We both know that’s not going back to any store. Better find another way save money.

My advice, so long as it’s only for a little while, is to drink cheap wine. There are some great deals to be had, and this merlot from Chile (yes, that makes two Chilean wines in two weeks from WoW) is so cheap, it makes it into our Unemployment Wine category!