Merlot [Mare-lo] has captured the attention of the everyday wine consumer because of its fresh, ripe fruit appeal. It offers red fruit components such as cherry, plum and currants with hints of cedar prominent with oak aging. Merlot dominates the Right Bank communes of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol where the wines are refined and elegant with loads of complexity. It is capable of producing wines which are full bodied and tannic, but most wine producing areas focus on the friendly, soft and fruit-forward style. Merlot is currently the world’s most popular red wine and is one of the prominent grapes in Bordeaux.
Aromas
Red Fruit – Cherry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Currant
Oak – Oak, Cedar, Smoke, Vanilla, Spice, Pepper
Complex – Chocolate, Coffee, Tobacco, Earth, Herb
Flavors
Red Fruit – Cherry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Currant
Oak – Oak, Cedar, Smoke, Vanilla, Spice, Pepper
Complex – Chocolate, Coffee, Tobacco, Earth, Herb
Styles
Fresh Fruit/Easy Drinking – Filled with bright, fresh fruit and easy drinking
Intense Fruit/Medium Tannins – Great fruit flavors and medium bodied with detectable tannins
Elegant – Medium to full bodied with succulent fruit flavors, complexity and soft tannins
Highly Concentrated Fruit/Firm Tannins – Full bodied and dense with loads of fruit flavors and ample tannins
Bordeaux – Right Bank – Pomerol and Lalande-de-Pomerol, Saint-Émilion and Satellites
California – Napa Valley, Alexander Valley
Washington State – Columbia Valley
Other – Argentina, Chile
Merlot is the red wine success of the 1990s. Its popularity has soared along with it acreage and it seems wine lovers cannot drink enough of it. It dominates the Right Bank of Bordeaux, which includes Pomerol and Saint-Émilion and has proven overwhelmingly successful in Washington State and California. Merlot is capable of producing some of the highest priced, most sought after elegant wines in the entire world. Château Petrus, located within Pomerol for example, is Merlot-based and fetches prices well over $400 a bottle when released.
Like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot offers a variety of fruit- and oak-influenced flavors and aromas. Merlot, in general, offers a majority of red fruit flavors and aromas consisting of cherry, raspberry, currant and plum. With oak influence, Merlot takes on other flavors, for example, cedar, spice, vanilla and smoke. The styles of Merlot vary greatly depending on the desired final result.
There is the ever-popular light, fresh and fruity style produced throughout the world that has made Merlot such a success over the past 10 years. These wines are easy drinking with loads of cherry fruit flavors. Taking a step above this style, we find Merlots with more intense fruit and ripe tannins. These have more of an oak influence and are fuller bodied. The elegant style is primarily produced in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. Here Merlot is complex, medium to full bodied with tremendous balance and is velvety and smooth. Additional flavors and aromas of the clay soils in which they are grown add dimension to these wines and the tannins are well integrated. Then there are the powerhouse Merlot with firm tannins and highly concentrated fruit flavors. This style of Merlot is Cabernet Sauvignon-like, requiring additional time to age in the bottle to allow the tannins to soften and the complexity in the fruit to show more clearly.
Merlot [Mare-lo] has captured the attention of the everyday wine consumer because of its fresh, ripe fruit appeal. It offers red fruit components such as cherry, plum and currants with hints of cedar prominent with oak aging. Merlot dominates the Right Bank communes of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol where the wines are refined and elegant with loads of complexity. It is capable of producing wines which are full bodied and tannic, but most wine producing areas focus on the friendly, soft and fruit-forward style. Merlot is currently the world’s most popular red wine and is one of the prominent grapes in Bordeaux.
Aromas
Flavors
Styles
Food
Regions
Merlot is the red wine success of the 1990s. Its popularity has soared along with it acreage and it seems wine lovers cannot drink enough of it. It dominates the Right Bank of Bordeaux, which includes Pomerol and Saint-Émilion and has proven overwhelmingly successful in Washington State and California. Merlot is capable of producing some of the highest priced, most sought after elegant wines in the entire world. Château Petrus, located within Pomerol for example, is Merlot-based and fetches prices well over $400 a bottle when released.
Like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot offers a variety of fruit- and oak-influenced flavors and aromas. Merlot, in general, offers a majority of red fruit flavors and aromas consisting of cherry, raspberry, currant and plum. With oak influence, Merlot takes on other flavors, for example, cedar, spice, vanilla and smoke. The styles of Merlot vary greatly depending on the desired final result.
There is the ever-popular light, fresh and fruity style produced throughout the world that has made Merlot such a success over the past 10 years. These wines are easy drinking with loads of cherry fruit flavors. Taking a step above this style, we find Merlots with more intense fruit and ripe tannins. These have more of an oak influence and are fuller bodied. The elegant style is primarily produced in Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. Here Merlot is complex, medium to full bodied with tremendous balance and is velvety and smooth. Additional flavors and aromas of the clay soils in which they are grown add dimension to these wines and the tannins are well integrated. Then there are the powerhouse Merlot with firm tannins and highly concentrated fruit flavors. This style of Merlot is Cabernet Sauvignon-like, requiring additional time to age in the bottle to allow the tannins to soften and the complexity in the fruit to show more clearly.