Merlot
The style profiled here is a dry, full-bodied red Merlot wine: soft, plummy, round. Typical alcohol is 13 to 14.5%. Serve it at 15 to 17 °C.
Also called Picard, Langon, Alicante, Alicante noir, Begney, Bidal, Bidalhe, Bigney, Bigney rouge, Bini, Bini Ruzh, Bioney and 55 more.
The grape
Merlot is a child of cabernet franc and a nearly extinct grape called magdeleine noire des Charentes, which also makes it a half-sibling of cabernet sauvignon. It is the most planted grape in Bordeaux by a wide margin, and it is planted there because it works on the clay of the Right Bank, where cabernet sauvignon struggles.
It ripens earlier than cabernet, has larger berries and thinner skins, and gives a wine with softer tannin, lower acidity and rounder fruit. That is the whole case for merlot: it delivers plum, black cherry and a smooth texture without demanding years in bottle. Its weakness is the same trait. It ripens fast, and if picked late in a warm site it becomes soupy, high in alcohol and short.
Pomerol and Saint-Émilion are where merlot is taken most seriously, on clay and limestone that keep it fresh. Elsewhere it is mostly a blending partner, filling the middle of a cabernet-led wine. Cool sites make the best varietal merlot: Friuli, Ticino in Switzerland, Washington State and the higher parts of Chile. The 2004 film Sideways damaged its American reputation so badly that plantings fell for years, which is a strange thing to have happened to a grape.
BuyingMerlot is the least risky red on a supermarket shelf and rarely the most interesting one. Right Bank Bordeaux at mid price is where it stops being a safe choice and starts being a good one.
Style profile
Our rating of a representative wine- Sweetness
- Bone dry
- Body
- Full
- Tannin
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
Sweetness and structure vary with the producer, region and winemaking. These ratings describe the style above; check the label for the bottle in front of you.
Food pairings
Where it grows
- Notable regions
- BordeauxLong IslandNapa ValleySonoma CountyChilean Central ValleyRomaniaAustraliaand Hungary
- Notable wines
- South Africa, Saint-Émilion, Pomerol
- Soil
- Clay
- Flavour
- Medium tannins
- Cool climate
- Strawberry, red berry, plum, cedar, tobacco
- Medium climate
- Blackberry, black plum, black cherry
- Hot climate
- Fruitcake, chocolate
Explore its wine regions
Planting snapshot
2015 observations, OIV 2017 studyOIV recorded about 266,000 hectares worldwide under the reported name Merlot in its 2015 variety snapshot.
- China
- about 7,000 ha (2015)
- France
- about 112,000 ha (2015)
- Italy
- about 24,000 ha (2015)
- United States
- about 21,000 ha (2015)
- Chile
- about 12,000 ha (2015)
- Romania
- about 12,000 ha (2015)
- Australia
- about 8,000 ha (2015)
- South Africa
- about 6,000 ha (2015)
- Hungary
- about 2,000 ha (2015)
Historical, rounded figures, including all uses of the grape. OIV’s variety study covers 75% of world vineyard area. A country absent from this table may still grow this grape.
Countries that build on it
Similar grapes
Sources
- Facts: Wikipedia, Merlot (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata Q213338 (CC0).
- Variety record: Vitis International Variety Catalogue, VIVC 7657.
- Style profile, pairings and serving figures are our own assessment.
- Planting observations: OIV, Distribution of the world's grapevine varieties (2017).