Merlot
Bordeaux, France
A softer, earlier-ripening red grape than its Bordeaux half-sibling Cabernet Sauvignon, offering plush, approachable fruit and rounder tannins.
Sensory profile
Characteristics
Flavor & aroma
At a glance
Production facts
Prevalence
Widely planted
Climate
Moderate climate
Ripening
Mid season
Wine styles
Still
Where it's grown
Geography
Shaded areas are the state, province or département(s) containing each region, so they run wider than the appellations themselves.
France
Bordeaux (Right Bank: Pomerol, Saint-Émilion)
Often the dominant grape in the region's most prestigious, age-worthy blends.
United States of America
California
Approachable, plush varietal wines that drove the grape's 1990s popularity boom.
Italy
Switzerland
Ticino
About four-fifths of the canton's vines, from fresh and fruity to oak-aged, and also made as a white wine, Merlot Bianco.
Background
Origin & History
Merlot is first mentioned by name in Bordeaux records in the late 18th century, its name possibly derived from "merle," French for blackbird, a bird reputedly fond of its grapes. DNA analysis published in 2009 identified Cabernet Franc and the now-vanishingly-rare Magdeleine Noire des Charentes as its parents, linking it directly to the same Cabernet Franc lineage as its more famous half-sibling.
Earlier-ripening and more forgiving than Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot became the dominant grape of Bordeaux's Right Bank, especially Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, where it can stand largely alone in some of the region's most prestigious and age-worthy wines. A wave of consumer-friendly marketing in the 1990s made it one of the most widely planted red grapes worldwide, a popularity that briefly dipped after being memorably disparaged in the 2004 film "Sideways," though its commercial and critical standing has long since recovered.
Lineage
Family tree
Ancestry above, descendants below. Click a related grape to explore its own lineage.