Today is merlot blowout day. The categories are Cheap ($12 and under), Moderate (up to $19), Expensive ($19-$35) and Really Expensive (way up there). Within the sections, the progress is more or less from Avoid to Exceptional.

CHEAP

Though endowed with a bouquet of dried thyme, spicy oak and wild cherry and raspberry, the barky, weedy character of the disappointing Rivefort de France Merlot 1996 swamps whatever flavors there might be. Avoid. About $6.

The Beaulieu Vineyards Coastal Merlot 1997, California is simple, direct and a bit rough around the edges. Good only. About $11.

Slightly better is the Carramar Estate Merlot 1998, South Eastern Australia, which features intense black cherry and raspberry fruit touched with coffee and chocolate and pleasant density; if only the finish weren't so severe. Good plus. About $10.

Better is Georges Duboeuf's Merlot 1998, Vin de Pays d'Oc, a rustic wine whose bright, fresh, floral qualities and tasty plum-cassis flavors shadowed with oak make for a nice quaff. Very good-. About $7.

Also marked Very good are La Playa Reserve Merlot 1996, Maipo Valley, Chile, a simple but attactively polished, floral and spicy wine that devolves to a fairly astringent finish, about $10, and the Forest Glen Merlot 1997, California, whose bright bouquet of smoke and herbs, chocolate and orange zest, black cherry and raspberry belies its essentially one-dimensional flavors and texture. About $11.

Several degrees more integrated is the Bolla Merlot Piave delle Venezia 1997, whose beguiling bouquet of dried herbs, coffee, cedar and floral touches accented with orange rind leads to surprising substance, vitality and intensity in the mouth. Very good and marked as the Pick of the Week at about $8.

Its cousin, the Bolla Colforte Merlot 1997 is discouragingly dominated by oak and tannin and underbrushy, foresty qualities. I'm not optimistic. About $12.

MODERATE

There's not much to say about the Jekel Merlot 1997, Monterey, a cautiously made "me-too" merlot with the requisite qualities but no discernible character. Good plus. About $15.

Almost gaudy with lavender and violets and heady black cherry-cassis scents, the lovely Bayliss & Fortune Merlot 1997, Monterey, features a succulent, dusty texture bolstering smoky plummy-jammy flavors with just enough oak for structure. Very good. About $14.

I don't usually think of R. H. Phillips as a noted merlot producer, but the winery's Toasted Head Merlot 1997, Dunnigan Hills, is a winsome little sweetheart of a wine, all velvet and lavender and licorice, bitter chocolate and tar, orange zest and black cherry and just enough oak and tannin to keep it honest. Yum. Very good. About $15.

The Pellegrini Cloverdale Ranch Merlot 1997, Alexander Valley, offers minerals, mint, exotic spice, tea, dried herbs and ripe cassis-raspberry in the nose; flavors are well-developed but dominated by tannin. Very good. About $16.

"Lovely" is the word for the smooth and supple Clos Du Bois Merlot 1997, Sonoma County, a wine bursting with notes of violets and tar, cassis and black cherry smoke and spicy oak; though it has sufficient structure, it drinks almost too easily. Very good. About $17.

"Wonderfully fruity" was my first note on the Seven Peaks Merlot 1997, Central Coast, a wine whose bouquet of minerals, vanilla, dried herbs and oaken spice and whose polished tannic structure are shot through with luscious blueberry, cassis and plums scents and flavors, tar and bittersweet chocolate. Very good plus. About $16.

EXPENSIVE

Cool as ink and minerals, the Canoe Ridge Merlot 1997, Columbia Valley, Washington, offers a ripe, intense though standard bouquet; it's pretty tasty, in the correct ways, but lacks vitality and vibrancy. Very good-. About $19.

Generally, I like red wines from Dry Creek Vineyards, but the Dry Creek Merlot 1997, Sonoma County, seems so carefully crafted that it has no personality; its reticence feels intended to last a lifetime. Very good. About $19.50.

The Sterling Winery Lake Vineyard Merlot 1996, Napa-Carneros, is all structure from the inside out and needs three or four years. Very good. About $35.

Though the astringency of the finish leaves a question mark, the Clos Pegase Merlot 1996, Napa-Carneros, offers one of the ripest, smokiest, most intensely vanilla-and-licorice-laced bouquets of all these wines; in the mouth its remarkable density seems imbued with permanent underbrush and forest elements, Give it two or three years. Very good plus. About $23.

It could use more complexity, but the Robert Pecota Steven Andre Vineyard merlot 1997, Napa Valley, is as lovely and seductive as merlot gets; its potpourri-licorice-plum-cassis fragrance balloons from the glass, while a polished grainy texture cushions dust, minerals and luscious black cherry-raspberry flavors. Very good plus. About $30.

What a nose on the Sterling Merlot 1997, Napa Valley! A tremendous bouquet of smoke, minerals, bright berries and spicy oak is followed by a huge mouthful of polished, chewy oak and tannin, plum dust and violets, intense black cherry and cassis flavors and a rather austere finish. Delicious but age-worthy. Excellent. About $20.

Wonderfully clean and harmonious, the Swanson Merlot 1997, Napa Valley, is sweetly ripe and winsome yet deeply endowed with intense black cherry and cassis fruit bolstered by a firm, fleshy texture and minerals that go down like liquid velvet. Excellent. About $24.

The Frog's Leap Merlot 1997, Napa Valley, manages to be sweetly ripe and harmonious despite its intensity and concentration and the seeming durability of its structure; as on a customized car, however, the detailing is perfect. Excellent. About $27.

Beringer's Alluvium 1996, Knights Valley (75 percent merlot, the rest cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc), displays a core of smoke, dried flowers and exotic spice so intense that it's startling; ripe and concentrated blueberry, plum and black cherry flavors gain substance from dense, chewy, minerally oak and polished tannin. Excellent. About $30.

REALLY EXPENSIVE

Between the poles of massive polished oak and grainy tannins, on the one hand, and scintillating vanilla, lavender, licorice, minerals and ripe plum-cassis-black cherry flavors on the other, the Beringer Bancroft Ranch Merlot 1997, Howell Mountain, Napa Valley, defines what merlot ought to be in California; you could tap dance on the finish. Great now, it could age three to six years. Exceptional. About $75.

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