Nickel & Nickel, Oakville – Napa Valley (California) Merlot 2009

 If you suffer from the post-Sideways affliction of regarding Merlot as an unserious wine, this is the bottle that will cure you.  Its supreme seriousness will be evinced the instant your corkscrew emerges with one of the longest, most expensive corks that money can buy–indicating that this is a wine built to age for a long time if its owner wishes to do that.  Very dark, deeply concentrated fruit is the next tip-off, followed by a serious lashing of fancy oak.  Initially rather taut, the wine’s aromas and flavors develop beautifully over the course of several hours, showing terrific fruit recalling dark berries and cherries that ends up totally overmatching all of that oak.  There are lots of gutsy tannins, but again, they’re so thoroughly enveloped in fruit that they prove quite unobtrusive.  Nickel and Nickel has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and while it may be true that relatively few consumers are prepare to pony up $50 for a bottle of Merlot, all who do so will discover that they got a bargain in the deal.