4.2 Merlot

Merlot is Bordeaux's other great black grape and, on a global scale, one of the most widely planted red varieties in the world. Where Cabernet Sauvignon offers firm structure, Merlot offers softness and approachability, and the two grapes have complemented each other in blends for centuries. For WSET Level 2, Merlot is best understood in direct contrast to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Grape Characteristics

Merlot has thinner skins than Cabernet Sauvignon and buds and ripens earlier in the growing season. Earlier ripening carries real risk in a cool, changeable climate like Bordeaux's, since it exposes the grape to spring frost, but it also means Merlot can ripen fully in sites and vintages where Cabernet Sauvignon might struggle to reach full maturity before the autumn rains arrive.

Typical Merlot structure and flavours:

Compared with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot is softer, rounder, and more approachable on release, with lower tannin that makes it easier to enjoy in youth without long bottle ageing. It still has enough colour, fruit concentration, and structure to respond well to oak ageing, though winemakers often use a gentler hand with new oak than they would for Cabernet Sauvignon, to preserve its plush, plummy character rather than overwhelm it with wood spice.

Role in Blends

Merlot's earlier ripening and softer tannin make it the ideal blending partner for Cabernet Sauvignon: it fills out the mid-palate with plush plum fruit and rounds off Cabernet's firmer edges, while Cabernet contributes structure, colour, and long-term ageing potential. This complementary relationship is the foundation of the classic Bordeaux blend, a formula copied by producers across the New World, from California to Australia. In many blends built around Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot is present as a supporting variety rather than the headline grape, but on the Right Bank the relationship is reversed and Merlot takes the leading role. This complementary pairing is also a useful way to remember food and style pairings at Level 2: a Merlot-dominant wine, being softer and less tannic, is generally a friendlier match for a wider range of dishes than a firmly tannic, Cabernet-dominant wine, which benefits from richer, fattier food to soften its grip.

Bordeaux's Right Bank

Merlot's spiritual home is the Right Bank of Bordeaux, where clay-rich soils suit its vigour and retain the moisture it needs through the growing season. Here Merlot, rather than Cabernet Sauvignon, is usually the dominant grape in the blend, often accompanied by Cabernet Franc rather than significant Cabernet Sauvignon. Saint-Émilion produces some of the Right Bank's most celebrated wines: plush, fruit-forward, medium-to-full-bodied reds built primarily on Merlot, often with Cabernet Franc in support and, in top examples, considerable ageing potential. Neighbouring Pomerol, a small but highly prized appellation, is even more heavily reliant on Merlot and is home to some of Bordeaux's most expensive wines, valued for their rich, velvety texture and concentrated plum and black-cherry fruit; its distinctive blue-clay-and-iron soil, known locally as crasse de fer, helps retain moisture and is often cited as part of the reason for the intensity found in its best wines. As with Cabernet Sauvignon, simpler blended Merlot appears at an entry level in the broad Pays d'Oc appellation of southern France, offering soft, fruity, easy-drinking wines at accessible prices for everyday consumption.

New World Merlot

In California, Merlot is grown widely across both Napa Valley and Sonoma, either as a single-varietal wine in its own right or as a blending component to soften Cabernet Sauvignon-based reds; California's warmth ensures full ripeness and produces riper, fruitier styles than Bordeaux typically achieves. In Chile, Merlot is a major variety across the Central Valley, prized for reliable ripening and soft, plummy, easy-drinking character (note that Chilean vineyards once thought to be planted with Merlot were sometimes found to be the related grape Carmenère, a mix-up now well understood and resolved through DNA identification and correct labelling). South Africa's Stellenbosch and Western Australia's Margaret River both produce well-regarded Merlot, frequently used to soften Cabernet Sauvignon blends in a distinctly Bordeaux-inspired style, while also standing on its own as a varietal wine. In New Zealand, the North Island's warmest red-wine region, Hawke's Bay, produces ripe, structured Merlot and Merlot-based blends, again often partnered with Cabernet Sauvignon in a Bordeaux-style pairing, particularly from the free-draining Gimblett Gravels sub-district where both grapes ripen reliably in most vintages.

Exam Focus

Remember Merlot as the earlier-ripening, thinner-skinned, softer-tannin counterpart to Cabernet Sauvignon, with plum rather than blackcurrant as its signature fruit. On the exam, the clearest regional distinction is Bordeaux's Left Bank versus Right Bank: Left Bank blends (Médoc, Haut-Médoc) are Cabernet-dominant, while Right Bank blends (Saint-Émilion, Pomerol) are Merlot-dominant. If a question describes soft tannin, plum fruit, and clay soils, Merlot and the Right Bank are the strongest match, while blackcurrant fruit, high tannin, and gravel soils point instead to Cabernet Sauvignon and the Left Bank.