Merlot

Merlot's prime name is Merlot Noir, its VIVC variety number is 7657, and its country or region of origin is France. Merlot's homeland is Bordeaux. Its parents are Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Cabernet Franc, a pedigree confirmed by markers. Merlot Noir also has offspring of its own. Its half-siblings include Cabernet Sauvignon, which is also an offspring of Cabernet Franc, and Malbec (prime name Cot), which is also an offspring of Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.

• Prime name: Merlot Noir; VIVC variety number 7657; country of origin: France
• Parents: Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Cabernet Franc, pedigree confirmed by markers
• Half-siblings: Cabernet Sauvignon (shared parent Cabernet Franc) and Malbec, prime name Cot (shared parent Magdeleine Noire des Charentes)

Merlot hails from Southwest France, with Bordeaux as its historic cradle, and it was named after a little blackbird, the merle, in a nod to the deep, dark colour of its berries. Historically it went by many bird-inspired nicknames, including merlau, plant médoc, sémillon rouge, béguey, picard, alicante and crabutet noir. Merlot is a black wine grape variety from Bordeaux that was incorporated into wines from that region at the beginning of the 19th century; it has benefited from the popularity of these wines and is now widely grown across the world. Its synonyms include Merlot Rouge, Merlo Noir, Plant Medoc, Merlo and Merlaut Noir. In the United States, Merlot enjoyed enormous popularity in the 1990s and early 2000s until usurped by Pinot Noir. One critic recalls that when California Merlot hit the American market in the early 1990s, the proposition was basically that this was "Cabernet without the pain".

• Name: after the blackbird (merle)
• Historical nicknames: merlau, plant médoc, sémillon rouge, béguey, picard, alicante, crabutet noir
• Incorporated into Bordeaux wines at the beginning of the 19th century
• Enormous popularity in the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s

On the nose, Merlot's hallmark notes are cherry, plum, fig and violet, with touches of chocolate or coffee with age, and on the palate it has a supple, rounded, velvety texture. Merlot tends to be noticeably lower in tannins and acidity than Cabernet, and it tends to produce wines with generous alcohol and moderate acidity. Merlot's primary characteristics vary with ripeness: riper grapes produce wines with more body, and a riper style is easily achieved in a warm climate but can also be achieved by harvesting later in a moderate climate. Merlot is capable of making outstanding single-varietal wines but is often blended with higher-tannin varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, and both oaked and unoaked styles are made.

The Bordeaux region in South-West France has a moderate climate with high levels of rainfall due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean; its wines are typically blends, predominantly from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot is the most widely planted variety in the region. Wines labelled Bordeaux AOC or Bordeaux Supérieur AOC are typically Merlot-dominated blends, and Merlot is the most important ingredient in most wines qualifying for the basic Bordeaux appellation. On the Right Bank, the soils are less stony so Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen, blends are typically Merlot-dominated, and the most famous Merlot-dominated wines come from Saint-Émilion AOC and Pomerol AOC. A typical outstanding-quality wine from these appellations is full-bodied from fully ripe Merlot grapes, with pronounced black-fruit aromas from low yields of fully ripe grapes, smoke and cedar from oak maturation, and tertiary dried fruit and tobacco. Right up the quality scale, one critic writes, Merlot "may be a luscious, mouth-filling, velvety, plummy, intense Pomerol that can often be positively meaty, almost bloody", while, typically blended with a bit of Cabernet Franc, it may make up the lion's share of a St-Émilion which is similar but a little leaner. In Saint-Émilion, Merlot holds pride of place, with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon also thriving alongside it; this early-fruiting grape likes cool clay-textured soils and produces bigger grapes but with thinner skins than Cabernet Sauvignon. On the Left Bank, blends dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon are common, and in cool vintages, when Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen even on the warmer stony soils, there may be a higher proportion of Merlot in the blend.

• Bordeaux AOC and Bordeaux Supérieur AOC: typically Merlot-dominated blends
• Right Bank: typically Merlot-dominated blends; the most famous come from Saint-Émilion AOC and Pomerol AOC
• Saint-Émilion: Merlot holds pride of place, alongside Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon
• Left Bank: Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blends common; possibly more Merlot in cool vintages

Elsewhere in France, Merlot, like the Cabernets, is widely grown throughout south-west France, notably in Bergerac and in Cahors, where it is the common blending partner of Malbec, and it is very widely planted in the Languedoc. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are both planted widely in the warm climate of Languedoc-Roussillon, with wines typically labelled Pays d'Oc IGP. Merlot is also widely grown in north-east Italy, particularly in Friuli; it is produced in Switzerland's Italian Ticino, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova grow significant quantities, and it is now widely planted in China. In the United States, Napa Valley has a warm, sunny climate with a long growing season, perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon and full-bodied Merlot, and one critic counts Duckhorn, Harrison, Havens, Matanzas Creek, St Francis and Silverado Vineyard among California's finest Merlot producers. The same critic credits Merlot with a proven track record in Washington state, where its charms are attractively balanced by crisp acidity and good colour; the Yakima Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope are the state's areas of largest Merlot concentration. In Chile, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon both ripen well in the warm and dry Central Valley and its sub-regions, an important source of fruity, inexpensive wines for high-volume brands, and an increasing number of producers have established reputations for very good- to outstanding-quality, single-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and blends with Merlot and the local speciality, Carmenère. The same critic writes that Chile "has already found its own perfect spot for Merlot, Apalta in Colchagua", and names Casa Lapostolle as the most inspiring Merlot producer she has come across in Chile. In South Africa, Stellenbosch has developed a reputation for complex, age-worthy red wines from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which are sometimes blended with the local speciality grape, Pinotage. In Australia, Merlot has traditionally been used as part of a blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, and a number of high-quality Bordeaux-style blends can be found in Western Australia's Margaret River region.

• South-west France: Bergerac, and Cahors as Malbec's common blending partner
• Languedoc-Roussillon: planted widely, typically labelled Pays d'Oc IGP
• Washington: largest Merlot concentrations in the Yakima Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope
• Chile: Apalta in Colchagua named by one critic as Chile's perfect spot for Merlot
• Stellenbosch: complex, age-worthy reds from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, sometimes blended with Pinotage
• Australia: traditionally blended with Cabernet Sauvignon; Bordeaux-style blends in Margaret River

Merlot contributes lots of colour, suppleness and spicy as well as fruity aromas, particularly red fruit: strawberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, redcurrant and also cherry; depending on the vintage and the weather, these aromas can take on jammy nuances and toasted notes after some years in bottle. Merlot lends itself especially well to being aged in barrels, from which it incorporates woody, spicy notes and vanilla aromas. Merlot grapes produce round, structured and deeply coloured wines that can be blended with more tannic wines to give balance. In the vineyard, Merlot is an early-budding and early-flowering variety with an average maturity period and a tendency to over-ripen in warm climates, prone to a range of problems related to coulure and sensitive to downy and powdery mildew, botrytis, cicadellidae and drought; in Bordeaux and the Midi region of France it yields between 6 and 11 t/ha depending on vine vigour. The vine ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon but is less resistant to rot, can easily suffer from uneven fruit set if the weather is poor during flowering, and is conventionally but by no means exclusively associated with damp, clay soils. Blending Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon lowers the tannin and acidity levels, makes wines ready to drink at an earlier age, and adds red-fruit flavours, and very good or outstanding Merlot-dominated wines are age-worthy, developing dried fruit and tobacco.

• Red fruit aromas: strawberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, redcurrant, cherry
• Barrel ageing adds woody, spicy notes and vanilla aromas
• Vineyard: early-budding and early-flowering, prone to coulure; 6 to 11 t/ha in Bordeaux and the Midi
• Blending with Cabernet Sauvignon: lowers tannin and acidity, earlier drinking, adds red-fruit flavours
• Ageing: very good or outstanding Merlot-dominated wines develop dried fruit and tobacco

Most of New Zealand's Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines come from Hawke's Bay in the North Island, which has a moderate climate with plentiful rainfall; there Cabernet Sauvignon needs the warmest sites to achieve full ripeness and is commonly blended with the more widely grown Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends have a long history in New Zealand, dating back to the mid-1800s, and today over 90% of plantings are found in Hawke's Bay and Auckland. The blends are increasingly Merlot dominant and notable for their purity of fruit expression, exciting and approachable when enjoyed young. Hawke's Bay wines benefit from a diversity of soils, river terraces comprising volcanic loess, alluvial silts and deep river gravels, and Merlot-based reds there are rich and plummy in their youth, acquiring complex characters with age. In Auckland, top blends of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon often include small proportions of Cabernet Franc and Malbec and, less frequently, Petit Verdot. Te Mata Estate's Coleraine, first produced in 1982, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc that the estate calls classic.

• Most New Zealand Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines come from Hawke's Bay
• Over 90% of plantings in Hawke's Bay and Auckland
• Hawke's Bay Merlot-based reds: rich and plummy in youth, acquiring complex characters with age
• Te Mata Estate Coleraine: first produced in 1982; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc

New Zealand Wine calls its Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blends "A superb food wine", approachable when young, or complex, leathery and gamey with age, and suggests them with red meats and game or winter casseroles, and with a strong cheese.

Primary sources: https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=7657 ; https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=1929 ; https://www.vivc.de/index.php?r=passport%2Fview&id=2889 ; https://www.bordeaux.com/en/grape-varieties/merlot/ ; https://www.oiv.int/public/medias/5888/en-distribution-of-the-worlds-grapevine-varieties.pdf ; https://www.wsetglobal.com/media/13022/wset_l2wines_sessionplans_en_may2023_issue2.pdf ; https://vins-saint-emilion.com/en/a-taste-of-saint-emilion/merlot-and-blending/ ; https://www.nzwine.com/en/winestyles/merlot-cabernet/ ; https://www.washingtonwine.org/grapes-soil-sun/ ; https://www.temata.co.nz/collection/showcase-wine/ Reference sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/grape-varieties/red/merlot ; https://winefolly.com/grape-varieties/merlot/ Last verified 2026-10-04