Merlot comes of age - Jan 2010
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Written by: Scott Lenik
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Word Count: 654 |
Date: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 |
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Red wine online has gone from strength to strength and during the winter months drinkers move into red wine from white wine and rose wine. Merlot this autumn has raced into the number one grape on our website. The reasons for this are very varied but also fascinating as it represents consumer's change of habits.
Merlot is undeniably soft, mild, easy to drink, but bursting with all the values a good red wine grape delivers. It is this that catapulted the grape to King of grapes in the US when in 1991 TV shows were extolling the benefits of red wine to the American consumer. It has become the Budweiser of the red wine industry in the USA.
Merlot was always the ugly sister of Bordeaux next to Cabernet Sauvignon until in the 1980's the US wine critics thought of this easy drinking red wine with a Bordeaux reputation. During the 1980's and 90's many New World vineyards invested in the grape and the Merlot lake was born.
The Marketing and PR people then span the Merlot tale and even the Australian wine producers bought the spin, as Merlot was a proven success. Merlot is in strong growth both among New and Old world wines. Even in Bordeaux the grape constitutes 56% of plantings, but in Pomerol it is 80%. In Bordeaux Merlot is blended with great grapes because of it's capabilities.
Italian red wine vineyards now plant the grape as the fifth most popular with the best wines coming from Tuscany, Umbria and Friuli.
California red wine producers have been very busy planting the grape and they are now the fourth largest world producer behind Bordeaux, Italy and Languedoc.
South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Chile have all been busy growing and marketing the grape but many of the Chilean Merlots are not virgin Merlots but field blends of Merlot and Carmenere.
Wine consumers the world over have begun to trust the grape as a trusted friend, easy to drink and good with food. The Merlot can deliver at its best a very smooth rounded red wine bursting with a velvety tannin and multiple berry flavours. There can be a spice or cinnamon tastes with hints of licorice, and truffles.
Merlot has also broken into the with food occasion both in the on trade and at home as it goes well with meat dishes, spiced dishes and good old English pub food. It has become a good comfort food red wine.
Four years the online wine retailers embraced the grape and have promoted it ever since. It is only really the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon that have beaten Merlot into third position, but that is another story. We have witnessed good growth coming from several brands. The first is the Torres Atrium Merlot Penedes. This wine is made 100% from Merlot and is sourced from vineyards which form part of the Agulladol Estate. Matured for 6 months in French oak this fine Spanish red wine is deep coloured, with soft juicy plum and blueberry fruit flavours and typically soft, rounded tannins. The second is the Drylands Merlot, Marlborough which undergoes 10 months ageing in a mixture of new and seasoned French and American oak barrels. Shows soft, ripe flavours of black plums, berry fruits and spice with a firm structure, and complex finish. The last Merlot that has been in great growth is Errazuriz 1870 Teno Block Merlot, Curico Valley which is a red wine with a juicy plum fruit character which shows hints of oak and smooth tannins on the finish.
Merlot wines have done very well in the last thirty years, producing easy drinking red wineswith strong Bordeaux provenance, easy blending characteristics have offered product versatility and its fit with food have extended the occasions it can be drunk. Long may its success continue for the online retailer.
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