Merlot

Merlot is a dark, blue-coloured grape that is used for blending grape and single varietal wines. The Merlot grape is known for its dark colour and the name is probably derived from the French word merle, which means the blackbird. Merlot has a softness and ripes early so makes it easier to grow and blends perfectly well with the much more tannic Cabernet Sauvignon. The most well-known Merlot wines come from Bordeaux, on the right-bank of Bordeaux it’s very often the most grown grape, appellations like Saint-emilion or Pomerol use predominantly merlot in their wines. On the left-bank of Bordeaux they are blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to add some softness to the wines, wines from Medoc are nearly always a blend of the 2 above. The aging potential of the wines depends on a lot as to when the grapes are harvested, with early harvesting they keep more acidity which allows them to become long aging wines. The most famous example is Chateau Petrus, their wines should only be drank after at least 15 years of aging and sometimes they can age for 50 years and only get better. If the harvest is done later, then the grape will become richer but it can quickly overripe and become jammy.