Trove Merlot 2004

Price: $18
Maker: Trove Wines, Madera, California
Variety: Merlot
Packaging: 3-liter box
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Trove Merlot 2004 styles itself as an upscale boxed wine. By and large, it’s not bad. This Merlot has a great, juicy aroma… all berries, with spicy overtones. The flavor is plummy, with plenty of oak and a pepper finish. The balance isn’t bad, but we’d like to see brighter fruit notes and more complexity.

The Trove web site at trove-wines.com seems to be defunct, at least at the moment. Trove is a brand of Constellation Wines - why can’t these wineries manage to keep a website operational? This is the second review I’ve worked on in the last hour or two, and the second dead website.