Merlot

VIVC lists Merlot under the prime name Merlot Noir, variety number 7657, and gives France as its country or region of origin. Jancis Robinson's grape page states that "Merlot's homeland is Bordeaux". According to VIVC, Merlot's parents are Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and Cabernet Franc, and VIVC records this pedigree as confirmed by markers. The VIVC passport also records that Merlot Noir has offspring. VIVC-derived lineage data in this wiki lists two half-siblings: Cabernet Sauvignon, which VIVC also records as an offspring of Cabernet Franc, and Malbec (VIVC prime name Cot), which VIVC also records as an offspring of Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.

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

bordeaux.com says Merlot hails from Southwest France, with Bordeaux as its historic cradle, and that it was named after a little blackbird, the merle, "a nod to the deep, dark hue of its berries". The same page lists historical bird-inspired nicknames including merlau, plant médoc, sémillon rouge, béguey, picard, alicante and crabutet noir. The OIV describes Merlot as a black wine grape variety from Bordeaux that was incorporated into wines from that region at the beginning of the 19th century, and says it has benefited from the popularity of these wines and is now widely grown across the world. Synonyms listed by the OIV include Merlot Rouge, Merlo Noir, Plant Medoc, Merlo and Merlaut Noir. In the United States, Jancis Robinson writes that Merlot enjoyed enormous popularity in the 1990s and early 2000s until usurped by Pinot Noir, and 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), according to bordeaux.com
• Historical nicknames listed by bordeaux.com: merlau, plant médoc, sémillon rouge, béguey, picard, alicante, crabutet noir
• OIV: incorporated into Bordeaux wines at the beginning of the 19th century
• Jancis Robinson: enormous popularity in the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s

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

WSET describes the Bordeaux region as having a moderate climate with high levels of rainfall due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, with wines that are typically blends, predominantly from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot the most widely planted variety in the region. According to WSET, wines labelled Bordeaux AOC or Bordeaux Supérieur AOC are typically Merlot-dominated blends, and Jancis Robinson calls Merlot the most important ingredient in most wines qualifying for the basic Bordeaux appellation. On the Right Bank, WSET teaches, 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. WSET describes a typical outstanding-quality wine from these appellations as full-bodied from fully ripe Merlot grapes, with pronounced black-fruit aromas, smoke and cedar from oak maturation, and tertiary dried fruit and tobacco. Jancis Robinson writes that, right up the quality scale, Merlot "may be a luscious, mouth-filling, velvety, plummy, intense Pomerol", and describes a St-Émilion, typically blended with a bit of Cabernet Franc, as similar but a little leaner. Les Vins de Saint-Émilion says that in Saint-Émilion "Merlot holds pride of place", alongside Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, that it likes cool clay-textured soils, and that it produces bigger grapes but with thinner skins than Cabernet Sauvignon. On the Left Bank, WSET teaches that blends dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon are common, and that in cool vintages, when Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen, there may be a higher proportion of Merlot in the blend.

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

Elsewhere in France, Jancis Robinson writes that Merlot is widely grown throughout south-west France, notably in Bergerac and in Cahors, where it is the common blending partner of Malbec, and very widely planted in the Languedoc. WSET teaches that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are both planted widely in the warm climate of Languedoc-Roussillon, with wines typically labelled Pays d'Oc IGP. Jancis Robinson also notes that Merlot is widely grown in north-east Italy, particularly in Friuli, that it is produced in Switzerland's Italian Ticino, that Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova grow significant quantities, and that it is now widely planted in China. In the United States, WSET describes Napa Valley as having a warm, sunny climate with a long growing season, perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon and full-bodied Merlot, and Jancis Robinson names Duckhorn, Harrison, Havens, Matanzas Creek, St Francis and Silverado Vineyard among California's finest Merlot producers. She writes that Merlot has a proven track record in Washington state, where its charms are attractively balanced by crisp acidity and good colour, and washingtonwine.org lists the Yakima Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope as the state's areas of largest Merlot concentration. In Chile, WSET teaches that Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon both ripen well in the warm and dry Central Valley, an important source of fruity, inexpensive wines for high-volume brands, and that an increasing number of producers have established reputations for single-varietal Cabernet Sauvignon and blends with Merlot and the local speciality, Carmenère; Jancis Robinson 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, WSET teaches that 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, WSET teaches that Merlot has traditionally been used as part of a blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, and that 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 (Jancis Robinson)
• Languedoc-Roussillon: planted widely, typically labelled Pays d'Oc IGP (WSET)
• Washington: largest Merlot concentrations in the Yakima Valley, Horse Heaven Hills and Wahluke Slope (washingtonwine.org)
• Chile: Apalta in Colchagua named by Jancis Robinson as Chile's perfect spot for Merlot
• Stellenbosch: complex, age-worthy reds from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, sometimes blended with Pinotage (WSET)
• Australia: traditionally blended with Cabernet Sauvignon; Bordeaux-style blends in Margaret River (WSET)

Les Vins de Saint-Émilion credits Merlot with contributing 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. It adds that Merlot lends itself especially well to being aged in barrels, from which it incorporates woody, spicy notes and vanilla aromas. The OIV describes Merlot grapes as producing round, structured and deeply coloured wines that can be blended with more tannic wines to give balance. In the vineyard, the OIV calls Merlot an early-budding and early-flowering variety with 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, and says that in Bordeaux and the Midi region of France it yields between 6 and 11 t/ha depending on vine vigour. Jancis Robinson adds that 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. WSET lists the reasons to blend Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon as lowering the tannin and acidity levels, making wines ready to drink at an earlier age, and adding red-fruit flavours, and teaches that very good or outstanding Merlot-dominated wines are age-worthy, developing dried fruit and tobacco.

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

WSET teaches that 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. New Zealand Wine says Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends have a long history in New Zealand, dating back to the mid-1800s, and its page, which takes planted and producing area from the 2026 Vineyard Report, states that over 90% of plantings are found in Hawke's Bay and Auckland. It describes the blends as increasingly Merlot dominant, says Hawke's Bay wines benefit from a diversity of soils, river terraces comprising volcanic loess, alluvial silts and deep river gravels, and says Merlot-based reds there are rich and plummy in their youth, acquiring complex characters with age. In its Auckland entry, New Zealand Wine notes that top blends of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon often include small proportions of Cabernet Franc and Malbec and, less frequently, Petit Verdot. Te Mata Estate states that its Coleraine, first produced in 1982, is a classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

• Most New Zealand Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines come from Hawke's Bay (WSET)
• Over 90% of plantings in Hawke's Bay and Auckland (New Zealand Wine, planted area from the 2026 Vineyard Report)
• Hawke's Bay Merlot-based reds: rich and plummy in youth, acquiring complex characters with age (New Zealand Wine)
• 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 Last verified 2026-09-29