October is Merlot Month. Before you yawn, consider this.
Merlot was ascendant in the domestic wine market prior to the 2004 movie “Sideways.” The movie, filmed in California’s Santa Barbara wine region, glorified (rightly) pinot noir and dissed (wrongly) merlot.
The widespread popularity of “Sideways,” nominated for an Academy Award, had a profound influence on what ordinary folks thought about the two wines. Pinot noir sales soared, while merlot sales plummeted.
Merlot Month has been a way for merlot producers to fight back. Yes, it’s a gimmick. But as these things go, it’s a useful gimmick because it serves to remind wine enthusiasts that merlot is indeed a noble wine that deserves our respect and admiration.
How do we know this? For one thing, arguably the most sought-after (and expensive) red wine in the world is the iconic Bordeaux, Château Pétrus. The chateau is situated in Pomerol, on the Right Bank of the Bordeaux region, meaning east of the Gironde estuary and the Dordogne River and Garonne River. The money grape on the Right Bank is merlot.
It would be an understatement of many magnitudes to suggest the wines of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion aren’t among the finest red wines anywhere in the world. The money grape on the Bordeaux Left Bank is cabernet sauvignon. Both grapes produce incredible wines. But cabernet sauvignon historically has not done well when planted in the soils, particularly clay, found on the Right Bank. It doesn’t ripen evenly, whereas the merlot (and cabernet franc) is glorious.
Both grapes were planted widely in California during the winery boom of the 1970s. California vintners tended to favor cabernet sauvignon because the grape could take the heat of the California summers, always got ripe, and was sold to the American public through ambitious promotion by the likes of Robert Mondavi.
It took longer for merlot to get its footing. It was often planted in the warm spots, when it does better in cooler coastal climates. Hence, the southern sector of the Napa Valley, near the San Pablo Bay, became a favored site for merlot producers. It also does well in the Pacific Northwest and on the eastern end of Long Island. In those early years of winery growth in the 1970s, merlot was generally thought of as a blending grape. It supposedly softened the tannic cabernet sauvignons of that era.
In California, Duckhorn Vineyards and Matanzas Creek, in Napa and Sonoma, respectively, began to turn heads with the merlot they made in the early 1980s. As their success caught on and spread, others began to turn to merlot as a primary grape. Sterling, St. Supery, and Markham in the Napa Valley regularly produced dazzling merlot.
At the same time, more merlot vineyards were planted, and in the rush to cash in on the growing popularity of merlot, there came to be a glut of what some would describe as “wimpy” merlot on the market. It wasn’t all Duckhorn, not even close.
Thus, the diss on merlot in “Sideways” took hold, and there became a growing consensus that the merlot craze was over. And for a time, that was true.
Today, there are many examples of outstanding merlot to be tasted and enjoyed, and that even improve with cellar age.
Producers such as Duckhorn, Nickel & Nickel, St. Supery, and Wolffer Estate on Long Island are true believers and make merlot for the ages. Aaron Pott, a prominent consulting winemaker in the Napa Valley, is a proponent of Right Bank blends similar to the wines he once made at the Saint-Émilion estate Troplong Mondot.
Pott’s favored terroir is Carneros, and he loves nothing better than creating new blends from merlot and cab franc.
Your takeaway from merlot month, should you choose to sample the many examples of fine merlot being made today, is that when merlot is made from grapes planted in the right places and given the TLC a noble grape variety deserves, it is capable of standing its ground with the greatest red wines in the world.
For example, the Duckhorn Three Palms Vineyard merlot that I reviewed recently is a monumental wine. Yes, it’s pricey, at more than $100 a bottle, but that’s a fraction of the cost of a bottle of Château Pétrus or Cheval Blanc, two of the greats from the Bordeaux Right Bank.
And if you simply want a delicious everyday merlot at a modest price, the Estancia, Decoy, or Kendall-Jackson at about $25 won’t disappoint.
Tasting Notes
Wines are rated on a 100-point scale. Wines are chosen for review because they represent outstanding quality or value, and the scores are simply a measure of this reviewer’s enthusiasm for the recommended wine.
