The deep purple-colored 1995 Domaine de Bordeneuve Merlot offers up black-cherry scents, followed by a nice attack with sweet, jammy fruit, medium body, good purity, and a surprisingly long finish. There is not a great deal of complexity, but the wine possesses depth, ripeness, and good balance.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