Silverstrike Merlot: Smooth and Satisfying

Last Saturday Pris and I decided to grill up a couple of steaks and crack open a bottle of wine.  We used to do this pretty regularly, but with the current economic issues our country is having we find that we're cutting back on a lot of what used to be "regular" habits.  That said, Saturday we decided to splurge a bit and I picked up two NY strips and some potatoes for baking at H.E.B.  While cooking everything up, Pris pulled out the 2010 Silverstrike Merlot.  To be fair, Pris was looking for a Cab for the steaks, but the bottle was in the wrong area in our wine rack so we ended up with a Merlot.  Despite the mix up, this turned out to be a good little wine that worked well with several nights worth of meals.

The Silverstrike was  a good, albeit fairly standard, Merlot.  The bouquet was full of dark fruit, blackberries, cherries, and currant.  These fruits also reigned supreme on the palate making this a juicy red.  The blackberry and cherry were the dominant flavors, but touches of oak and mineral provided a nice backbone to the wine.  A little touch of spice prefaced subtle tannins that provided a smooth and easy finish.

On the subject of smoothness, the Silverstrike is an extremely smooth and easy to drink Merlot that works well on its own.  Of course it worked nicely with the food as well.  Even though it was juicy, the steaks did not overpower the wine.  The two worked well together, but where the Silverstrike really shone was with the following nights meal.  The Merlot paired exceptionally well with a roasted pork tenderloin, steamed asparagus, and sweet potato wedges.  The milder meat was a better fit with the wine's smoother and fruitier flavors.

This is a very versatile wine since it drinks well with or without food, and it pairs nicely with a variety of foods.  We received the wine as a gift, but you can buy it at the Wall Street Journal Wines for $12 a bottle.  For more information on the 2010 Silverstrike Merlot you can visit:  http://www.wsjwine.com/jsp/product/productDetails.jsp?productId=prod590088