The medium to dark ruby-colored 2000 Merlot Domaine St. Pierre reveals sweet black fruit and spice aromas. It is medium-bodied, extracted, and concentrated. This blackberry, spice, tar, and grilled herb-flavored wine is a serious, foursquare, juicy Merlot. Projected maturity: now-2004. Bravo! to Georges Duboeuf for this impressive line-up of wines, and for the fact that he has remained true to his goal of delivering high quality at consumer friendly prices. Importers: William Deutsch and Sons, White Plains, NY; tel (914) 251-9463, and Winesellers Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel (847) 679-0121.

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The most impressive of the four Merlots from Duboeuf reviewed in this segment is the 1995 Domaine St.-Louis Merlot. This wine could compete in a blind tasting with Merlots selling at two to three times the price. The deep, saturated, ruby/purple color is followed by a spicy, smoky, black-cherry-scented nose. The wine possesses excellent concentration, medium body, admirable richness and persistence on the palate, and a soft, supple, round finish. It should drink well for 1-3 years.The four Merlot offerings reviewed in this segment are all surprisingly fine examples of Merlot that are selling at bargain-basement prices. Each of these domaines produces 3,000-4,000 cases.There are three things that come to mind when I see the word Merlot on a bottle of wine - exploitation, greed, and mediocrity. The wine world continues to cash in on the headlong plunge by consumers in search of a supple, fruity, easy to drink and understand wine. The obsession with producing Merlot is understandable from a commercial standpoint, but much of what is bottled under this name is disgraceful garbage. I taste well over one thousand Merlots a year, and 90% of them are nothing more than vegetal, washed-out, weedy, appallingly thin wines that are rip-offs, even at $8-$10 a bottle. That being said, Georges Duboeuf has struck gold with some young Merlot vineyards planted in southern France. All of these offerings, save for the Flower Label bottling, are individual estates that he represents. Most of these wines are comparable to Merlots selling at twice the price. Some are even better than Merlots selling at three to four times the price! In short, they offer salvation for readers seeking a wine that provides immediate gratification, and actually has taste!Importers: William Deutsch, Armonk, NY; tel. (914) 273-1221 and Winesellers, Ltd., Skokie, IL; tel. (708) 679-0121