Grape Expectations: Merlot

In the last of our series on wine styles Adam Withrington examines merlot - not the critics' choice but hugely popular.

For the last six months I have run this series of articles analysing major grape varieties and seeing how greater knowledge of these grapes could benefit sales of wine in your pubs.

Hopefully, as a result, you will now have a greater knowledge of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, pinot grigio, riesling and - this month - merlot.

I now intend to shelve this series for six months so I can focus on even more business building ideas for your wine offer, including advice on wine lists as well as looking examples of good practice by individual licensees and pub companies.

Wine is the fastest growing drinks category in pubs and yet there is still so much potential which is not being realised. Hopefully you will keep reading the Grape Expectations series to get more and more ideas.

Adam Withrington​Drinks reporter​

For the "weekend hacker" wine drinker, merlot is the number one red wine variety. As much as chardonnay inspires confidence in the occasional drinker, the same can be said of merlot. For the man or woman in the street who know little about wine, the chances are if they did claim to know anything, at all it would be that they know they like merlot.

And yet despite its popularity it doesn't receive the greatest press. Wine writers, connoisseurs and experts alike are often quite bitchy about merlot. Master of wine Tim Atkin has said of merlot: "Some would say it's on a par with pinot grigio". Not a compliment in his book.

And anyone who has seen the film Sideways will remember the main character, Miles, and his reaction on being told that his "blind" date dinner partner might just order some merlot. "If anyone orders merlot, I'm leaving. I am not drinking any f*****g merlot!" he screams with such ferocity you would think he was being asked to drink a glass of gnat's urine.

So how have we reached this disparity between the experts and the drinker on the street? To understand the resentment towards merlot you have to look back 30 years when its Bordeaux buddy cabernet sauvignon was king. At that time cabernet sauvignon was the most widely planted red grape variety across the region.

Up and coming wine producers in Australia and the US were planting acres of cabernet sauvignon vines and copying the Bordeaux style. Merlot was solely used in blends to soften up the taste of wines that might otherwise have been quite harsh and tannic.

However, if you are in the wine business, and are concerned with increasing both volumes and profits, then cabernet sauvignon may not be your best bet. It is notoriously tricky to grow and rarely do winemakers produce a big crop at harvest time.

And wine growers began to realise that merlot had some advantages over its distinguished colleague. "Merlot is a much easier grape to grow, and for that reason it has put cabernet sauvignon in the shade," says master of wine Jonathan Pedley.

"It ripens earlier and also crops very heavily. If you go to a vineyard and see a row of merlot vines next to a row of cabernet sauvignon vines you will see twice as many grapes on the merlot side. Essentially it is a cash crop."

However, the winemakers needed a market in which to get the cash for the crop. And it was not hard to find. The biggest problem cabernet sauvignon has is that it is at its best when aged.

Young cabernet sauvignons are tannic and tough on the taste buds. And this is where merlot has found its niche. As well as being easy to grow it is also - crucially - easy to drink relatively soon after production.

"We now live in a world where most of our wine is bottled, shipped and drunk within two years of harvest," says Jonathan. "The Jacob's Creeks of this world are an example of this. Merlots can really give you pleasure when drunk young, especially compared to cabernet. When cabernet sauvignon is younger it is a much tougher wine to drink."

And this is why at a commercial level merlot is so successful and will continue to be for your pub. As Jonathan puts it, when it comes down to wines at the street-fighting £4 to £5 a bottle level you are not going to have the luxury of looking for a well-aged bottle of cabernet sauvignon. It just won't be in that price range. "From a hard-headed commercial angle, merlot is a better bet for your bottom line," he says.

And this explains the disdain many experts have for merlot. It is a mass produced product that has not been cared for and crafted in the way a cabernet sauvignon or pinot noir might be.

You can find hundreds of examples of good-value solid merlots but it is very hard to find a truly outstanding bottle. There are the very famous, such as Petrus and some of the really top Saint-Emilions. But it is unlikely you would want to splash out your hard earned money on them.

Merlot is essentially used to create some really top easy-drinking quaffable wines. And that is gold dust for pubs.

There is no doubt you would want to have something more challenging on your wine list, but merlot is the bread and butter. And if you don't do the basics well, you won't even have the opportunity to progress your offer.

Merlot's heritage​

• Merlot is believed to have originated in the early 18th century in Bordeaux
• Bordeaux red wines come from two regions: the "right" and "left" banks. The predominant grape from the left bank is cabernet sauvignon, while the main grape grown on the right bank is merlot
• The great Bordeaux wines of Pomerol and Saint-Emilion are based on merlot
• About 650 million bottles of red wine are produced in Bordeaux a year

USA​

Like in France cabernet sauvignon once ruled the roost in the US. But, according to wine writer Jancis Robinson, in the 1990s merlot picked up the "hot varietal" tag and plantings, especially in California, went through the roof.

However, there is a cruel joke that does the rounds which suggests the only reason merlot became more popular in the US and overtook cabernet sauvignon is that Americans found it easier to pronounce! Good merlots can be found from Napa in California as well as in vineyards in that unsung hero of American winemaking, Washington state.

Chile​

When it comes to merlot Chile has got it made. As mentioned above, merlot's big strength is its suitability for drinking when young, and young Chilean merlot wines really hit the spot.

Italy and Spain​

These two wine-growing giants are more modest players in the merlot arena. However, in regard to Italy, Oz Clark is fulsome in his praise for examples coming from Tuscany and Sicily and he believes the Spanish have begun to get to grips with the grape in the last 10 years.

France​

As hinted above, merlot is the success story of the last 10 to 20 years in Bordeaux. It now outstrips plantings of the classic cabernet sauvignon. Merlots with reasonable price tags can be picked up in the Languedoc-Roussillon or the Vin de Pays category.

Eastern Europe​

Winemakers in Hungary and Bulgaria have done interesting things with merlot as have growers in the warmer climes of Greece.

South Africa​

Since the 1980s South Africa has begun to build up its merlot production. However, its winemakers and local consumers have become particularly keen on merlot blends, particularly with cabernet sauvignon, pinotage and shiraz.

Australia​

Once thought of as a