Merlot

An international star and found throughout most of the wine world, Merlot can vary from being easy drinking to top shelf quality. The best Merlots are found in its home region of Bordeaux, especially from the right bank of the rivers like Pomerol or Saint-Emilion. Here the Merlot is the star and gets supported by the Cabernet varieties. The left bank of the rivers, like Médoc and Margaux will use Merlot as the supporting variety, as Cabernet Sauvignon will have the leading role there.
The name Merlot is derived from the French word of blackbird, ‘merle’. This should give you an indication of the colour, yet some grapes give us even darker tones.

The grape is also very popular in Spain and Italy, where it is used for the ‘Super Tuscans’ blend, along with Cabernet Sauvignon. The reason the two grapes work so well together is because they are opposites and create a perfect balance. The grape can also be found in Bulgaria and Greece, where it produces elegant and complex monocepages.
Because the grape blends so well with the Cabernet grapes, it is sometimes very hard to find a monocepage of good quality. Often the single usage of the Merlot will be reserved for the production of bulk wine.
However, Australia does make some fine examples, especially Merlot coming from the Pyrenees (a mountain range in the state of Victoria).
For the United States, California and Washington will produce the best Merlot. There the grape can be called Médoc Noir or Petit Merle.

We find some Merlot in Chile as well, and for a long time it was believed that Merlot was the most planted red variety in the country. That was before people discovered that the grape was mistaken with Carménère. Which is now the most planted red variety in the country.