Price: $18
Maker: Black Box Wines, Madera, California
Varietal: Merlot
Packaging: 3-liter box
Alcohol: 13.5%
Our Rating: 8 out of 10
Black Box Merlot 2004 is a decent enough Merlot, though we fail to see why many people seem to hold up Black Box as the pinnacle of bag-in-box wines. The aroma is nice, with pepper, clove, and berry notes. The flavor offers some cherry and blackberry notes, with quite a bit of oak and a medium spicy finish. There’s not a lot of complexity, and the feel is a bit generic, but it’s an adequate red wine.
The 2003 vintage of Black Box Merlot won a Gold Medal at the Los Angeles County Fair and was named a “Best Buy” by Wine Enthusiast. We’re kind of sorry we missed that year.
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Have been waiting anxiously for the wine to come back to our merchants for over a month here in the Raleigh, NC area. Help!!
I’m sipping my first ever Black Box Merlot from ’04. I was a little underwhelmed. I know it’s box wine, but I was expecting something for all the hype it’s gotten. Perhaps just because it doesn’t totally suck people are surprised and rate it a tad higher.
I’m thinking with a decanter I may get it to open up some. It would be a nice surprise. However, what I’m tasting right now doesn’t lead me to believe I’m going to find complexity. Maybe just a tad more bite?
Randy Jackson says, “I don’t think it’s your best performance; for me it was just a-ite.”
Paula Abdul says, “I love everything you do. This wasn’t great, but you’re a superstar!”
Simon Cowell says, “I feel like…So what?”
This is one of the best wines we have drank — bottle or box. We were very impressed.