Markham Vineyards 2005 Merlot

Very dark berries and quite spicy for a Merlot. Definitely a nice surprise in both. Great with red meat but I don't recommend it with seafood - the crab cakes we had on night one didn't bring out the full potential of this wine. The smoky-ness rivaled that of the cabernet we also had open. the cola flavors in the finish are also notable, but it leaves your mouth a bit gummy.

Good but not great. 5.5/10 rating for this mid-$20's bottle of wine.