Merlot wine

Merlot grapes are black grapes traditionally grown in Bordeaux, France, in Italy and in Switzerland. They have also become established in California.

History
It is part of the Carmenets family, and therefore a cousin of Cabernet and Carmenere.  It could come from the region of Libourne, where it is cited for the first time as Merlau.

The name merlot could come from a small blackbird (in patois, the merlot is a small blackbird) either from the dark color of the grape or because the blackbird ate the grape.
It is formally identified as that grape in the eighteenth century. It appears in 1789, in the collection of the Jardin du Luxembourg, under the name Bigney red.
Its sensitivity with respect to the sag is in fact a second variety of category. The grafting of N malbec gives a big production of grapes, watery and very susceptible to rot.

Thus the merlot N that will succeed it gives roundness, finesse and complexity to Cabernet Sauvignon N. The clonal selection will improve the regularity of production in the 60s. Merlot has become an easy to grow grape for wine-making, giving a complex wine that is easy to drink and does not require long aging, although it does keep longer.
Morphological homogeneity shows a recent origin.  Ampelography has noted the variety for two or three centuries, which is young in comparison to some varieties known since Roman times. The proof is given in 2009. A team of geneticists from the University of California at Davis and INRA Montpellier has found the genetic origin of merlot N. It is an intraspecific crossbreeding between Cabernet franc, N Magdeleine black and Charentes N.

Range

Its distribution in the wine world and the volume of production should continue to grow in coming years, particularly in Argentina and China.

France

The area planted in the French vineyards is now over 100,000 ha, of which about 68,000 ha are in Bordeaux and the South-West, and 25,000 ha are in Languedoc-Roussillon.  This makes it the most cultivated grape in France (Source: Agricultural Census 2000).
In France it is present mainly in Bordeaux, southwestern AOC (it gives roundness to their Cahors assemblages), and Languedoc-Roussillon wine country. It is almost the exclusive grape of Pomerol appellation, and is prominent in the AOC Saint-Emilion.

Rest of Europe

In Switzerland, it is mainly present in the Ticino area. It occupied 300 ha in 1991. Grapes grown in this area produce wines that are less powerful and lighter than the wines from Bordeaux. In Italy, mainly in Tuscany, Veneto, Friuli and Latium it flourishes.  Here, the merlot held 29,000 ha in 1990. In Eastern Europe it is cultivated in Bulgaria on 9,500 ha, on 1,000 ha in Hungary, and on 10,000ha in Moldova, Romania and Slovenia.
In the United States
It is now cultivated in the United States, in California and New York (Long Island).  As with Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, it is a grape that growers and dealers in California have sought-after to adapt to their culture and market, with particular marketing, viticulture and contemporary oenology. For forty years, companies like Gallo and Mondavi have held pioneering roles in industrialization and commercialization.

Genetic variability

The white merlot B is not the form of white merlot N.

Clones

A survey of the old vineyards of Bordeaux led to the formation of a large collection area at INRA Vassal. There are forty-seven clones. The Chamber of Agriculture Gironde created four collections in 1958, 1966, 1988 and 1999, bringing together 294 clones. In these collections, fifteen clones have been approved for production; the numbers 181, 182, 184, 314, 342, 343, 346, 357, 348, 349 and 519 are most multiplied. The surface graft nurseries have been growing since the 1980s.

Metis
In 1981, INRA Bordeaux Grand Park has approved the Arinarnoa N, grapes from the mixing of N and Merlot Petit Verdot N. Not recognized in AOC, this variety has been created to improve the quality and regularity of production in the vineyards of wine country.

Synonyms
Merlot is known as begney, Bigney, Bigney red crabutet, Langon, Medoc black Merlau, small blackbird, Merlo, merlot black Merlotti, odzalesi, little Robin, Medoc plant, plant Medoc, Saint-Macaire, sows the Canau, sows Dou Flub, semillon red, and semilhoun red stained glass.

Ampelographic Features
Sprouting: fluffy white red piping.
Mature leaf: 5-lobed, cuneate, medium, dark green, bubbly, deeply lobed, straight teeth, sinuses petiolar U.

Viticulture

It yields two and a half weeks after the Chasselas B. It is vigorous and makes greedy timber. The average production is high and needs to be moderated by a thinning in the early years. It has a drooping habit which requires a good trellis.
It is well adapted to clay or clay-limestone, while avoiding too fertile land (excess return) or muddy soil (sagging important). Generally, it should be planted in ground that is too rich to enable a vigorous rootstock.

Sensitivity

It is sensitive to potassium deficiency, and has a medium sensitivity to chlorosis. It is sensitive to spring frosts (earliness of bud), and prefers a mostly dry climate (needs a soil deficient of water or without irrigation). It fears late blight, the black-rot and gray mold of the cluster. It externalizes least symptoms of diseases of the wood (esca, Eutypa dieback, flavescence gold) than the cabernet, one of several reasons for the increase of its proportion in the Bordeaux grape varieties.

Oenological skills;

A very popular vine, it owes its success to a stunning set of qualities:
Maturity: this is an advantage for the maturity in years to rainy autumn.
Regular production, except in exceptional sagging years.
Ease of culture: it supports a variety of soils or densities of 3,500 to 10,000 plants per ha.
Resistance to disease of wood.
Ease of wine: very sensitive to oxidation, suitability for breeding tank or barrel.
Adaptability: it gives good wines wherever it is planted. Even little wine areas can draw a good honorable wine.
It has well-characterized aromas that the uninitiated do recognize. Its name has the reputation of a mark, because of its success in wine grapes. Even if it keeps well, it can be drunk quickly.

It can produce wines that are fruity, delicate and colorful, or wines that are detailed, structured and complex. Merlot grapes can be used alone to produce a varietal wine or in blends with Cabernet sauvignon or Cabernet Franc.  It gives detailed and complex wines, with Bordeaux characteristics in general.