Did you know it's International Merlot Month? How did I miss this?

I kid you not:

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Be still my heart!

Thank goodness I had some last night! But, jeepers, a whole month?!

And I think there’s Merlot Day on Nov. 6 (?) to sustain the no-doubt building momentum.

I own one (1) merlot - an '09 Ridge Torre Ranch. I wish I owned more - there are good examples out there.

Must have come up after Sideways, to rescue Merlot from oblivion.

I’m making beef stew tonight, but I don’t think Merlot has enough structure for it - perhaps a Bordeaux with Merlot would do!

I bought some Pomerol yesterday, does that count!?

Because it’s you, no.

Now go away.

Elin McCoy, Bloomberg’s wine writer, declared last year that the Sideway’s curse is dead. She reported the 10,000 acres of merlot were pulled up or budded over after the movie. But now it’s back in vogue, she wrote:

Sales of “luxury” versions of the red increased 5 percent over the past year, according to Nielsen, while a 2016 Wine Intelligence report found it was the No. 1 varietal of choice for American drinkers of all ages. Restaurants sold 8 percent more merlots costing $100 and up, according to Winemetrics 2016 Fine Dining Report.

So the grape gets dissed, acreage falls, then producers start selling limited-quantity luxury bottlings at much higher prices. Clever strategy! Conspiracy theorists will no doubt suggest that merlot growers who were behind Sideways.

Damn! We just missed International Pinotage Day yesterday!

We don’t want things like that to happen again, so you may want to mark your calendars for next month:
Nov. 7: International Merlot Day
Nov. 12: International Tempranillo Day
Nov. 15: Beaujolais Nouveau Release Day
Nov. 21: National Zinfandel Day

Here’s the full-year calendar.

If you only drink the merlot and spit the cabernet

Epic fail. There is no thin weedy Cabernet Franc appreciation day for Yak Palates and savants.

No, read on, brother! You’re in luck: December 4 is Cabernet Franc Day (no international or national designation).

We’ll pay tribute to you that day with some sweaty socks and a bunch of diced green peppers.

Shoot, I missed it! Only a week after my birthday, will need to go deep! Rougeard and Cheval Blanc!

To celebrate International Merlot Month, I just cracked a bottle of 1961 Petrus… provenance guaranteed by Acker Merrill, who got it from Rudy Kurniawan, who got it from Gil Lempert-Schwarz… or was that the other way around?

After this beauty, I don’t think I’ll be able to face another Merlot for at least another century.

Dan Kravitz

I just drink Switchback Ridge… and smile!

We have to drink the supply down somehow.

Check out Tuscany…I’ve had some inspiring Tuscan Merlot that was priced very, VERY fairly.

I just drink Switchback Ridge… and smile!

That will work! Just had a Cakebread Merlot which was excellent last week and I don’t normally like their wines.

No offense to anyone, as I know none of this is serious, but it amazes me that people respond at all to these things. Not just “Mourvèdre Day” and other wine related ones, but all the rest of it. “It’s National Walnut Day!”

Sorry to be a grump.

Loved the Pride Mountain merlots we tasted a couple weeks ago.