The movie Sideways was highly entertaining. Full stop. But it probably did more harm than good in terms of educating the public about wine. Merlot was undoubtedly over-planted in California, but tearing out Merlot vines that shouldn't have been planted there and replacing them with Pinot Noir vines that were even more ill-suited to those sites was... not great.
Merlot is one of the most important red varieties in the world- whether it's a lovely table wine like this from California, or a $4,000 bottle of the legendary Chateau Petrus from Bordeaux.
100% Merlot. Serve cool.