A Wine Lover's Weekly Guide To $10 Wines - A Southern French Kosher Merlot

Several generations ago the Skalli family was making wine in Algeria, which was then a major wine-producing nation, one supplying France with much of its table wine. Conditions changed and the family left for France after Algerian independence. In the late 1970s Robert Skalli studied winemaking in California. He returned to France with the idea of making varietal wines, wines based on a single grape variety rather than a blend. Skalli was among the winemakers who revolutionized the wine industry in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of south central France, bordering the Mediterranean; the highest-volume wine producing region in the country.

Today's wine is kosher. The producer's website (go for Fortant rather than Skalli and then click Wines and Kosher) includes detailed list of the measures needed for a wine to be kosher. The company produces other wine in Corsica, the Rhone Valley of France, and California's Napa Valley but most if not all of these wines are not kosher and cost more than.

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed Skalli Fortant Merlot (V) 2007 France 13.5% alcohol about $10

Let's start with the marketing materials. Description: Look for blueberry preserves, sour cherry, raspberry, and tobacco aromas and flavors. Dry, savory, ripe, and round. Mature and ready to drink with grilled hamburgers. And now for my review.

With the first sips the wine was thick and tasted of tar, tobacco, and plums. The initial meal consisted of slow-cooked beef stew. The wine maintained its qualities and added chocolate. When I enhanced the stew with green jalapeno sauce the wine became more powerful.

The second meal included roast chicken with potatoes, onions, and carrots. The wine's fruit, acidity, and tannins were well balanced. I found black cherries, some oak, and even tobacco, and there was a touch of sweetness. This Merlot had lots of taste but was not thick.

The final meal centered around a boxed Eggplant Parmigiana that I slathered with grated Parmesan Cheese. The Merlot was smoky and nicely balanced. It was moderately persistent and palate cleansing.

Prior to the cheese pairings I tasted this drink with Matjes herring. The wine retained its power, but the two didn't mesh. Most wine doesn't mesh with herring. Next came the Gouda cheese. The Merlot was partially gutted, but I did taste cherry juice. Not black cherry juice, just cherry juice. Then I tasted a Swiss cheese; it's a different Swiss than in the past and does not carry the term Emmenthaler but only Swiss. The wine was persistent but seemed short-changed.

Final verdict. This wine is worth buying again, even more so if you want a kosher wine that, for the reasons detailed on the Fortant web site, is more expensive to produce. And it even comes from France. Unfortunately none of this producer's more upscale products are available in my region.


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Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, but definitely prefers drinking fine French, German, or other wine. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website www.theworldwidewine.com features a weekly review of $10 wines and new sections writing about and tasting organic and kosher wines. Visit his Italian wine website www.theitalianwineconnection.com .