Clos du Bois Merlot California Red Wine

Skip the marketing and go to the grape: this is a Merlot. Regional guides describe it as a grape that generally ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon and often rounder in build, showing plum and other red or dark fruit with gentler tannin than Cabernet in many bottles, though climate and blending can leave it fresh and medium-bodied or turn it broader and richer. That description is the best read available, since no shopper rating has been logged for this bottle.

Among the reds we track it is one of the least expensive, with the lowest we saw at $10.99 and the highest at $14.99 in our September 2026 checks. Clos du Bois says Frank Woods founded the winery in 1974.

Clos du Bois's own product page for the 2022 vintage adds specifics the price listing cannot. Its tasting notes describe black plum and boysenberry with mocha, toasted oak, cherry and vanilla, and its winemaking notes say the wine spent three to four months in oak, done, in the producer's words, “to preserve fruit characteristics and create a soft mouthfeel”. The producer's viticulture notes call 2022 a difficult year for the Central Valley fruit behind this wine: drought conditions met a mild but extended summer heatwave, with a late-season heat spike in September that stressed the vines.

Our call: worth a try on the producer's own account, oak time aimed at what its notes call a “soft mouthfeel” alongside plum and mocha fruit, and priced among the least expensive reds we track. Pass if a shopper rating matters more to you than the producer's word; none is in our record for this bottle yet.

The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.