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Merlot is a darkly blue-coloured wine grape, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines.
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Merlot and is
The name Merlot is thought to derive from the Old French word for young blackbird, merlot, a diminutive of merle, the blackbird ( Turdus merula ), probably from the color of the grape.
Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Merlot is one of the primary grapes in Bordeaux wine where it is the most widely planted grape.
Merlot is also one of the most popular red wine varietals in many markets.
Researchers at University of California, Davis believe that Merlot is an offspring of Cabernet Franc and is a sibling of Carménère and Cabernet Sauvignon.
If bad weather occurs during flowering, the Merlot vine is prone to develop coulure.
Wine consultant Michel Rolland is a major proponent of reducing the yields of Merlot grapes to improve quality.
A characteristic of the Merlot grape is the propensity to quickly overripen once it hits its initial ripeness level, sometimes in a matter of a few days.
France is home to nearly two thirds of the world's total plantings of Merlot.
Merlot is the most commonly grown grape variety in France.
The largest recent increase in Merlot plantations has occurred in the south of France, such as Languedoc-Roussillon, where it is often made as a varietal Vin de Pays wine.
However, Merlot is much more prominent on the Right Bank of the Gironde in the regions of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, where it will commonly comprise the majority of the blend.
One of the most famous and rare wines in the world, Château Pétrus, is almost all Merlot.
In Pomerol, where Merlot usually accounts for around 80 % of the blend, the iron-clay soils of the region give Merlot more of a tannic backbone than what is found in other Bordeaux regions.
In the sandy, clay-limestone-based soils of Saint-Émilion, Merlot accounts for around 60 % of the blend and is usually blended with Cabernet Franc.
In Italy, a large portion of Merlot is planted in the Friuli wine region where it is made as a varietal or sometimes blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc.
The Strada del Merlot is a popular tourist route through Merlot wine countries along the Isonzo river.
In the Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Croatia and Romania, Merlot is often produced as a full bodied wine that can be very similar to Cabernet Sauvignon.
In Switzerland, Merlot accounts for nearly 85 % of the wine production in Ticino where it is often made in a pale " white Merlot " style.
Merlot and wine
The earliest recorded mention of Merlot was in the notes of a local Bordeaux official who in 1784 labeled wine made from the grape in the Libournais region as one of the area's best.
The popularity of Merlot stemmed in part from the relative ease in pronouncing the name of the wine as well as its softer, fruity profile that made it more approachable to some wine drinkers.
Plantings of Merlot has increased in recent years in the Austrian wine region of Burgenland where vineyards previously growing Welschriesling are being uprooted to make room for more plantings.
In the early history of California wine, the Merlot was used primarily as a 100 % varietal wine until wine maker Warren Winiarski encouraged taking the grape back to its blending roots with Bordeaux style blends.
In the 1980s, Merlot helped put the Washington wine industry on the world's wine map.
In New Zealand, plantings of Merlot have increased in the Hawke's Bay Region, particularly in Gimblett Gravels where the grape has shown the ability to produce Bordeaux style wine.
Until the early 1990s, the Chilean wine industry mistakenly sold a large quantity of wine made from the Carmenere grape as Merlot.
In Mexico, Merlot is cultivated primarily in the Valle de Guadalupe of Baja California, the country's main wine producing area.
As a varietal wine, Merlot can make soft, velvety wines with plum flavors.
There are three main styles of Merlot — a soft, fruity, smooth wine with very little tannins, a fruity wine with more tannic structure and, finally, a brawny, highly tannic style made in the profile of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Merlot and grape
Others wanted the flexibility to experiment with blending French grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot or to not be required to blend in any white grape varieties.
Since 1996 the blend for Chianti and Chianti Classico has been 75-100 % Sangiovese, up to 10 % Canaiolo and up to 20 % of any other approved red grape variety such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah.
Its softness and " fleshiness ", combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a popular grape for blending with the sterner, later-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, which tends to be higher in tannin.
In Spain, winemakers are petitioning authorities to allow Merlot to be a permitted grape in the red wines of the Rioja region.
In Argentina, Merlot plantings have been increasing in the Mendoza region with the grape showing an affinity to the Tupungato region of the Uco Valley.
White Merlot was reputedly first marketed in the late 1990s, and should not be confused with wines made from the white mutant of the grape.
White Merlot should not be confused with the grape variety Merlot Blanc, which is a cross between Merlot and Folle Blanche.
For most of the 20th century, it was the world's most widely planted premium red wine grape until it was surpassed by Merlot in the 1990s.
The vine is one of the last major grape varieties to bud and ripen ( typically 1 – 2 weeks after Merlot and Cabernet franc ) and the climate of the growing season affects how early the grapes will be harvested.
The Long Island Merlot Alliance which promotes wine making using the merlot grape, the principal Long Island grape, is based in Cutchogue.
Today it is the fourth most widely planted grape in the state behind Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot & Syrah.
Merlot and used
As a varietal, Malbec creates a rather inky red ( or violet ), intense wine, so it is also commonly used in blends, such as with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to create the red French Bordeaux claret blend.
As in Pomerol and the other appellations on the right bank of the Gironde, the primary grape varieties used are the Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with relatively small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon also being used by some chateaux.
Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot.
As with Médoc, Cabernet Sauvignon is the predominant grape, but a somewhat greater proportion of Merlot is typically used in the blend, with smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.
As with the Médoc to the north, Cabernet Sauvignon is the predominant grape, but a somewhat greater proportion of Merlot is typically used in the blend.
As well as varietal wines ( such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot ), Vin de Pays is being used to produce non-traditional blends which do not meet the requirements of AOC or VDQS regulations.
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