Put it in a box

The boyfriend and I visited Paso Robles and the Santa Ynez Valley this past weekend and enjoyed wine tasting in both regions.  We generally like to visit smaller vineyards, where you might find the winemaker or his or her spouse at the tasting bar.  There's just a better feel to the smaller places, where folks are still very much pouring their heart and soul into the wine.  But I'll get off my soapbox.  I'll be reviewing quite a few of the wines that we purchased on the trip, but I thought I'd start with the most unexpected find: quite good boxed wine.

We were at the Hidden Oak Winery in Templeton, CA.  First let me say that Hidden Oak Winery is located on a beautiful piece of property, with great views of the region, and that we had a great experience in their tasting room.  We found some Merlot there that we really liked and were informed that it came in a box.  Four bottles of wine in the box for the price of 2.3!  You can't argue with that deal, and I've increasingly heard about winemakers attempting to try boxing their wine, despite America's aversion to the boxed stuff based on experiences with Franzia at undergrad.  The thing is that with the box, the wine lasts much longer once opened (assuming you're not going to finish a bottle in an evening) and does not appreciably diminish in quality once opened because of the vacuum seal.

But, is it any good?  We thought that Hidden Oak Winery's 2006 Merlot was good enough to bring home a box.  As you can see from the picture, the Merlot has a dark color, and while you can't appreciate it in the photo, it's a really nice dark ruby color.  It has a relatively weak nose of red fruit.  Now, even though the wine comes in a box it is a 2006 vintage and does require some time to breathe.  When I first poured myself a glass I found a bracing acidic aftertaste.  Luckily, that quickly faded as the wine opened up.  Hidden Valley's '06 Merlot is very fruit forward, with a mellow tannic finish.  The fruit flavors (raspberry, currant, and cherry) are quite nice, and the wine is well structured.  You can tell that the tannins have faded with time, and they balance the fruit nicely.  Finally, it's a fast-moving wine in my opinion.  There's not much of a long lingering finish here, which some folks will like and others would no doubt criticize.  My verdict - it's a good value and high quality, and should pair well with grilled meat and seafood.