20 Facts About Merlot

Merlot is one of the most popular red wine varietals in many markets.

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.

The identity of the second parent of Merlot wouldn't be discovered till the late 2000s when an obscure and unnamed variety, first sampled in 1996 from vines growing in an abandoned vineyard in Saint-Suliac in Brittany, was shown by DNA analysis to be the mother of Merlot.

However, unlike the relationship between Grenache noir and Grenache blanc or Pinot noir and Pinot blanc, the variety known as Merlot blanc is not a color mutation but rather an offspring variety of Merlot crossing with Folle blanche.

Boursiquot has noted that Merlot has seemed to inherit some of the best characteristics from its parent varieties—its fertility and easy ripening ability from Magdeleine Noire des Charentes and its color, tannin and flavor phenolic potential from Cabernet Franc.

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The largest recent increase in Merlot plantations has occurred in the south of France, such as Languedoc-Roussillon, where it is often made under the designation of Vin de Pays wine.

However, Merlot is much more prominent on the Right Bank of the Gironde in the regions of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, where it will commonly comprise the majority of the blend.

In limestone, Merlot tends to develop more perfume notes while in sandy soils the wines are generally softer than Merlot grown in clay dominant soils.

Merlot can be found in significant quantities in Provence, Loire Valley, Savoie, Ardeche, Charente, Correze, Drome, Isere and Vienne.

The Strada del Merlot is a popular tourist route through Italian Merlot regions along the Isonzo river.

Plantings of Merlot have 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.

The 2004 movie Sideways, where the lead character is a Pinot noir fan who expresses his disdain of Merlot, has been connected with declining Merlot sales in the US after its release .

In Mexico, Merlot is cultivated primarily in the Valle de Guadalupe of Baja California, the country's main wine-producing area.

Genetic studies discovered that much of what had been grown as Merlot was actually Carmenere, an old French variety that had gone largely extinct in France due to its poor resistance to phylloxera.

In South Africa, plantings of Merlot have focused on cooler sites within the Paarl and Stellenbosch regions.

Some fruit notes commonly associated with Merlot include cassis, black and red cherries, blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, mulberry, ollalieberry and plum.

Floral and herbal notes commonly associated with Merlot include green and black tea, eucalyptus, laurel, mint, oregano, pine, rosemary, sage, sarsaparilla and thyme.

In Switzerland, a type of White Merlot is made in the Ticino region but has been considered more a rose.

In food and wine pairings, the diversity of Merlot can lend itself to a wide array of matching options.

Merlot tends not to go well with strong and blue-veined cheeses that can overwhelm the fruit flavors of the wine.