Santana’s Select Merlot
Source: Winerx

This was purchased for the novelty and for the price. The bottle features the Major League Baseball player Johan Santana. It’s one of a limited edition series from “Longball Cellars,” sports player themed wines benefiting charities. Other teams represented during this 2006 run included Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago,  Cincinnati, Philadelphia and the 500 Home Run club. The umbrella company that manufactures the wines is called Charity Wines and they also produce football and hockey themed wines. This wine was marked down from $12.99 to $3.99 at my local wine shop.

Day 1
It tastes young. It’s very thin bodied for a merlot. Not too tart or dry with a slight sweetness. Strong grapey aroma. I had low expectations but for the price point it’s very drinkable and pleasant.

Day 2
Consumed with chocolate, more of the tartness came out. The overall taste was fuller and a longer finish was apparent.

Unfortunately, this was a a limited run so it may be difficult to find. Check out this archive of some other wines still available via their website. Some fun highlights include wrestling themes such as “Flying Headbutt Merlot” and Razor’s Edge Pinor Noir featuring Razon Ramon.