My wife and I have enjoyed white and blush wines (Reisling, Pinot Grisio, White Merlot) for the last few years and we are wanting to get more into Red wines. Its been tough to get into as we have had a few bad experiences with some red wines. I don't think we are ready for Cab's. Just to harsh for us. We have tried a couple of house Reds at a few places and we have liked them but they are hard to find in a store . I think we have decided we like light to medium bodied red wine.

My quesiton is this, Is a Pinot Noir lighter than Merlot? Also is a Blend (Cab and Merlot) milder than a regular Merlot? I'm trying find red's in our taste area vs wasting many bottles of red wine down the drain.

Thanks

I don't waste them while experimenting, I keep them around for a day or two to actually get the right taste test and may ask others to join me for dinner while testing these lovely wines I spent good money on. No, in no way do they go down the drain.

In my experience, and the wine cellar of ms. tickle will attest to this, a Pinot Noir is far lighter then a Merlot. You could possibly try the new Austrialian, Chilean merlots which are really quite astounding. I recommend them.

You really must clear your pallet each time to get rid of the taste of others. May I suggest a good french baguette ?

Pinots are a good place to start. In American, look for a cooler climate Pinot, such as those from Russian River Valley. They tend to be lighter bodied and fruit forward. If you want to try an import, start with a nice Burgundy (Burgundy being the region, Pinot the grape)

I think that you will find merlots, pinot noirs, shirazs, chiantis, and even red zinfandels and sangioveses a little softer than cabs, although it could just be that the cabs that you are trying to drink need to breath a bit longer or they are just not high quality. I really like the pinot noirs, red zinfandels, sangioveses, chiantis, and shirazs. Also there are many blended cabs, some blended with cabernet franc, merlot, shiraz or combinations of 3 or 4 of these. Having said all of that, I think you might find South American and Australian cabs better than California cabs (dollar for dollar). I'm not a merlot guy though... even though I'm sure there's a bunch out there that might be fine. I've really started looking a Pinots for exactly the same reason that you are looking at merlots. I drink a lot of my wine without food and I find that cabs are really good with the right kind of food (steaks and spicy pasta dishes), but I prefer the softer wines for after dinner apertifs. Another tip, and this might drive some people crazy for me to say this, but I drink all my red wine chilled to about 60-65 degrees. Last but not least, find a reputable wine store/dealer and ask him to recommend softer, easier to drink cabs or other reds. Remember, big heavy cabs can require more breathing time than other reds before they are ready for drinking. There's also an abundant amount of red table wines out there that are high quality, inexpensive, easy to drink and some are semi-sweet, if you think you might like something like that.

If you're still looking for a lighter red wine and a Pinot Noir as well, I have found 2 that I really like. One is a German Pinot Noir by the name of Hans Lang. I was really surprised at how light it was. The other is a Mark West Pinot Noir from California. Both I have purchased recently for under $10 although the Mark West Pinot Noir was originally marked at about $12. I really like the Mark West, but the Hans Lang is light IMO.

Don't know if OP's still around, but I'm not into Merlot or Cab either one. I'm not a huge fan of Pinot Noir but there are a couple I like.

I actually prefer Australian Shiraz's (Rothbury being my favorite though I can't find it anymore), and there's some Spanish Grenache's I like. (Garnache I believe in Spanish.) There's also a Chilian Carmanere I like though I can't think of the name, Castle de something. And I do like some Zin's, Ravenswood being a favorite (CA). There's also a Ravenswood Shiraz I like cause it's a little milder. These are all about $10-12 or a bit less around here. From the few I've tasted I've never liked expensive wines any better. One exception on price is Valipolcello (Italian). That one is difficult for me to find that is not more expensive.

I am quite literally at this moment drinking a Sangiovese, but sometimes it seems to have a bit of a bite.

I am not into harsh wines. In fact, it wasn't until maybe the past 5-10 years I even really started drinking reds a lot. And don't be afraid to just ask someone in the wine store. Wine should be for anyone to enjoy and most people I speak to are not snobs about it -- sometimes the snobs don't even know as much. :-)

Oh and setexenv, I do not think you're crazy for the temperature you want your wine. "Room temperature" was not intended to mean like 72 degrees or something, nor is chilled for white wines meant to be refrigerator temperature. (They taste tinny too cold.) It's not uncommon to plop a red into the fridge for maybe 15 minutes to bring it down a bit.