Columbia Crest Grand Estates - 2008 Merlot

My sister stayed with me for about three weeks at the end of the summer as she transitioned from one great life event to the next. I was happy to have her, in spite of my initial reservations. I should have known we'd be fine. It took three years living together for us to drive each other crazy, and this was only three weeks.

I had gotten so used to her being around, actually, that I found myself a little sad when she told me she had found a job and an apartment and would be moving out within the next few days. So we cracked opened a bottle of wine to celebrate and commiserate.

The bottle I chose was the Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot from 2008. I've tried a couple of different bottles of the Columbia Crest, and while this particular bottle wasn't too bad, it wasn't nowhere near as delicious as some of the other bottles of theirs I've tried.

I'm not sure I'm much of a Merlot fan.

So while we drank, we filled out these "Rate that Wine" forms Luigi gave me for my birthday. They have silly rating systems like "murky as a polluted lake" and "medley of vinegar" and "harmoniously tongue loving" or my personal favorite "will also linger in my dreams" to describe each part of the wine. Using this form you can give the wine a 1-5 on label, color, clarity, nose, body, flavor, and finish.

Of course neither of us really knew what we were doing, but overall we both rated it about a solid 3 out of 5 overall. My sister, who isn't a fan of red wines, noted that her overall impression was "meh, not bad for a red."

And as we drank, we became somber and philosophical, and talked late into the night.

A week later she was gone, and I finished the rest of this bottle on what would have been Mom's birthday, feeling sorry for myself that we lost her the day after she turned 56, two years ago.

A melancholy bottle of wine, it was.