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We can trace Merlot back to the 1st Century in France but Merlot
as a noble Bordeaux varietal standing on its own doesn't
appear till the 1800s. Merlot, Malbec and a few others owe
their existence to the 'biturica' variety from which it has
evolved.
Other names for Merlot around the world include: Petit Merle,
Vitraille, Crabutet Noir and Bigney. In a further twist of mistaken
identity, DNA profiles reveal that some wines from Chile
labelled as Merlot come from a vine called Carmenère or
Grand Vidure. This story on its own is fascinating so see the
note at the end of this article.
Merlot is an early ripening variety. This is wonderful as it will
ripen before the winter rains set in. Also this is terrible as it is
vulnerable to spring frosts. It tolerates and even thrives in soils
too poor or too moist or too cold for top class Cabernet Sauvignon.
The colder climates produce wonderfully complex Merlots
with lots of soft fruit flavours not found in the warmer climate
fruit. Its sensitive during flowering and wind or vine diseases
will decimate the crop. A sound strategy with Merlots is
to leave excessive bunches during flowing and thin them out
later. This allows us to adjust the yield after the critical flowering
time has passed. The berries are thin skinned and physically
large. They wont tolerate bird damage or sunburn or splitting,
as they'll rot as soon as any moisture finds the damaged
berries.
Merlots most famous home is in the Bordeaux. Even the Medoc
region, famous for its Cabernets has about 40% area under
Merlot. Merlot comes in third behind Carignan and Grenache
as the most planted red grape variety in France. It thrives in
northeast Italy, is spreading through Eastern Europe and the
new world regions can't produce enough. The Winemakers
Federation of Australian, 2002 vintage report tells us that:
'Merlot intake increased dramatically, up by 31% to 105,000
tonnes, representing 6% of the total wine grape intake.'
Merlot is a doubly versatile grape. It is widely blended with
many other grapes providing a soft, luscious, velvety fruit
characteristic softening the harsher varieties. This makes for
extremely drinkable young wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and
Merlot is our best-known blend with tannins and structure from
the Cabernet Sauvignon and a fruity rich middle palate from
the Merlot.
The most famous producer of French merlot wines is Chateau
Petrus, whose 1990 bottling earned a perfect 100 score from
Wine Spectator (it sells for about USD$1,700 a bottle). Ouch!
Merlot on its own is not great for long bottle aging. It's become
ridiculously popular in the last few years as a stand-alone
varietal. More so among people wanting a 'drink now' wine
rather than a long term cellaring wine. Ripe Merlot gives you
lots of fruit flavours; plums, cherry, raspberry, mint and subtle
spice. However unripe Merlot, goes towards herbaceous green
flavours. It's great with rich dishes, pasta, meats and even
chocolate. For the same season with the same conditions from
the same vineyard, the Merlot will end up higher in alcohol and
less tannin than the Cabernet Sauvignon.
Some of the characteristics you'll pick up in various Merlots
include:
Fruits - plum, cherry, blackcurrant
Lightly oaked - vanilla, coconut
Heavily oaked - smoke, tar, oak
Floral - violet and rose
Spices - mint, caramel, cloves, bay leaves
Bottle age - mushroom, earth, coffee, leather, cigar
This is one of those fascinating stories we often uncover
when researching articles for this newsletter. It's somewhat
related to Merlot, but still interesting reading.
Carmenere is almost exclusive to Chile and virtually extinct
in its French homeland. Carmenere was very important in the
Bordeaux vineyards from the 1700's onwards but is now virtually
unknown. When wineries started to become trendy in
Chile around the 1850's, the natural source for vine material
was France. The valleys around Santiago were planted with
vine material from Bordeaux including a lot of Carmenere.
Naturally the winemaking skills mirrored the French and
when phylloxera struck in Europe, the wines from Chile
helped quench the thirst for fine wines back in France.
The massive replanting of vineyards in France after phylloxera
hit, left Carmenere out of the mix. A condition called
'coulure' hits vines in certain climates. It prevents flowering
when the spring is cold and wet and Carmenere is particularly
susceptible. Carmenere ripens several weeks after Merlot
and often produces yields lower than Merlot. The French
vineyards had this golden opportunity to replant their stocks
and many chose the more robust Cabernet Sauvignon or
stuck with traditional Merlot. The thick-skinned Cabernet
Sauvignon berries better resisted the rain and resulting rot
than the thin-skinned Carmenere. And, here was an ideal opportunity
to replant onto phylloxera resistant rootstocks.
Chile has very little rain during the growing season and was
spared the destruction of phylloxera. There was no systematic
replanting of vineyards and Carmenere remained safely
growing amidst the Merlot vineyards. And, since Carmenere
and Merlot look alike, over the centuries Carmenere lost its
identity and both varieties assumed the Merlot tag. Meanwhile
back in France, Merlot thrived. Chile was relatively
isolated from international wine markets and Carmenere to
the rest of the world was an old forgotten and/or extinct wine
grape. Wine sales have boomed around the world in the last
20 years. As more Chilean 'Merlot' found its way onto the
world markets, someone noticed the 'Merlot' had stronger
and spicier and more sumptuous flavours than Merlot from
anywhere else in the world. Finally in 1994 Professor Jean-
Michel Boursiquit of Montpellier's renowned school of Oenology
identified the Chilean 'Merlot'. Using DNA mapping
he showed the world the Chilean 'Merlot' was really Carmenere
and was identical to Carmenere vines found in France.
* Reproduced with permission from Peter Svans
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