Our take
Bogle Vineyards Merlot Red Wine
- Style
- Red wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Merlot
- Region
- California
- Shelf barcode
- 0080887493782
Our take
What we make of this bottle
The store listing carries 1 shopper ratings so far, together averaging 5 out of five, which reads as early days rather than a firm verdict. Steadier ground is the family's own history: Bogle dates its first wine-grape plantings to 1968 and the first release under the family name to 1978. That account is about the winery as a whole, not this Merlot in particular.
Merlot itself can stand alone or soften a Cabernet-led blend, and it usually ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon; regional guides describe plum and other dark fruit, with tannin often gentler than Cabernet's. If you want a red that leans soft rather than firm, that grape description is a fair place to start. This is a California wine, priced between $10.99 and $14.99 in our September 2026 checks, toward the affordable end of the reds we follow.
Bogle's own page for this wine, the 2022 vintage, traces it to the family's Clarksburg, California estate vineyards and quotes the producer's tasting language directly: aromas of 'Bing cherries, sassafras and hints of pipe tobacco,' with 'supple red fruits on the entry' giving way to 'touches of cedar and sweet herbs.' The producer describes the style as full-bodied and dry, with moderate time in oak, and states the bottle is gluten-free, vegan-friendly and grown under certified sustainable vineyard practices. Bogle's page also cites Nielsen sales data crediting this Merlot as the top seller in its price band, $8 to $11.99, for the year ending September 2022, a few years old now but the only outside sales measure on record for it.
Our call: this suits a shopper who wants a soft, full-bodied red backed by a named estate and a producer that states its own certifications and even its sales rank in its price tier, all at one of the least expensive prices among the reds we track. Pass if the shopper-rating crowd is what you wait for: the single score on record is one shopper's read, not yet a pattern, and the wine's cited sales strength is now dated.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.
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Read our take →The prices we checked
Dated store checks, not a promise about your store.
- Kroger, Atlanta suburbs, GA$10.99
- Kroger, Cincinnati, OH$12.99
- Ralphs, Long Beach, CA$14.99
- Fred Meyer, Portland, OR$14.99
- King Soopers, Colorado Springs, CO$10.99
- Smith's, Las Vegas, NV$13.99
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$12.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$10.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$13.99
- QFC, Tacoma, WA$12.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Family history
Bogle says the family planted its first wine grapes in 1968 and released its first wine under the family name in 1978.
Research status
What we are still checking
Our overview above draws on the dated store feed, shopper ratings, our region and grape research, and any sourced producer facts. We are still working to confirm the current release, the full producer record, and the bottle itself, and we update this page as we learn more.
Getting to know California.
California on the label is useful provenance but weak detail about place. For these wines, sourcing disclosure, blend construction and house-style consistency carry more decision value than a generic climate paragraph.
What the name means
A state-level appellation, broader than an individual American Viticultural Area. It permits a multi-region blend and does not by itself identify one climate or soil.
How grapes grow here
The state spans cool maritime zones and hot inland valleys. A California designation alone does not reveal which conditions shaped the fruit.
What lies under the vines
At state scale, sourcing and house-style construction matter more than any single soil story.
How large the region is
- Reusable question
- Which counties or AVAs supplied the blend, and did that mix change by release?
Places within the region
- Resolution limit
- County, AVA and vineyard claims begin only when the release names them.
Getting to know Merlot.
Merlot is a red grape that can make a complete wine or soften a Cabernet-led blend. It generally ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon and often has a rounder structure.
Category guide
What to expect in the glass
Regional guides describe plum and other red or dark fruit, with less forceful tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon in many examples. Climate and blending can make it fresh and medium-bodied or broader and richer.
Sources: New Zealand Winegrowers; Napa Valley Vintners. Checked Aug 10, 2026. See all 28 Merlot wines we cover →
Where this information comes from
- Store listing
- Price, package, product identifier, and shopper rating. Checked Aug 10, 2026.
- Barcode
- The shelf barcode shown here is computed from the store product identifier. It has not been checked against a bottle.
- Method
- Every price, rating and fact here is a dated observation. How we check.