My daughter loves cats.  She came with me into the store while I was looking for new bottles of wine to try.  She saw the label with the leopards and thought the idea of herding cats was hilarious.  She let me know I was not getting out of the store without that bottle. 

Herding Cats 2006

Herding Cats is a merlot/pinotage (80/20) blend from South Africa, and was strictly a “label purchase” only because I’ve never heard of the winery or brand.  There were no references to the winery, so if you know who the winery is let me know.  The wine is imported by Underdog Wine Merchants.   

Herding Cats Merlot/Pinotage blend is a good wine for the price

Looks

The first thing you’ll notice about Herding Cats is that it is a screw top.  I have no romantic associations with corks , and I appreciate the practical closure.  The wine has a really good dark color--opaque burgundy.  The wine is clear (it isn’t opaque from cloudiness), it just has a very deep color.

I like screwtop! I wish more wines used them.

Aroma

Herding Cats has a very strong aroma.  It's not a bad scent that you might expect from a cat, the aroma is really pleasant.  I could smell the wine a good foot from my nose.  The scent really hits you.  You could smell a bit of the alcohol, but you really could pick up strong scents of blackberries.

Taste

The flavor seemed a bit tart for either merlot or pinotage.  I could feel a slight burn from the alcohol as it went down.  The wine does have a distinct flavor that I found hard to place.  The wine is a bit different.  I was expecting a bit more fruitiness from the wine description, but I found it to be quite dry. 

Results

I don’t think I’d drink this wine alone, but would be good with food.  This wine should be very good with a meat dish.  I think meat flavors would really smooth out the slight harshness of the wine.  For the price, this wine is pretty solid.  This wine gets 7 scattered felines out of 10.

Winery: Unknown (Imported by Underdog Wine Merchants)
Country of Origin: South Africa, Western Cape
Grape: 80% Merlot 20% Pinotage
ABV: Unknown
Price: $9

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Who is behind fermentarium? My name is D.J. Spiess I've been homebrewing for many years and I hope I can help you enjoy this hobby as much as I do. If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment, share it, digg it, or stumble it using the icons to the right or the top of the page. You can read more about me on the about page. Share fermentarium with other beer and wine lovers! Bookmarking this article on social media sites helps others discover fermentarium. If you liked this article, let others know! Connect with D.J. via social media sites Digg - StumbleUpon - Twitter - Aleuminati - Democracy's Drink - Must Love Wine - BrewPoll - Mixx