| > | | | | made from the Carmenere grape as Merlot. In that |
| Merlot is a red wine grape that is used as a blending | | | | year, genetic studies exposed that much of what |
| grape and for varietal wines. Merlot-based wines | | | | had been grown as Merlot was actually Carmenere. |
| typically have average body with trace of berry, | | | | The classification of Chilean Merlot is a catch-all to |
| plum, and currant. Its softness and stoutness, | | | | include wine that is made from a blend of random |
| combined with its earlier ripening, makes Merlot a | | | | amounts of Merlot and Carmenere. With Merlot |
| model grape to blend with the sterner, later-ripening | | | | ripening 3 weeks earlier than Carmenere, these wines |
| Cabernet Sauvignon. This suppleness has helped to | | | | vary significantly in eminence depending on harvesting. |
| make it one of the most popular red wine varietals in | | | | |
| the United States and Chile. | | | | Merlot grapes are identified by |
| | | | | their loose bunches of large berries. The color has |
| The most basic recorded mention | | | | less of a blue/black shade than Cabernet Sauvignon |
| of Merlot was in the remarks of a local Bordeaux | | | | grapes and with a thinner skin; the grapes also have |
| official who in 1784 labeled wine made from the | | | | less tannins. In addition to a contrast against |
| grape in the Libournais region as one of the area's | | | | Cabernet, a Merlot grape tends to have higher sugar |
| best. The name comes from the French provincial | | | | content and lower malic acid. Merlot prospers in cold |
| patois word Merlot, meaning young blackbird. By the | | | | soil, mostly ferrous clay. The vines have a tendency |
| 19th century it was being frequently planted in the | | | | to bud early which gives it some hazard to cold frost |
| Médoc on the Left Bank of the Gironde. It was | | | | and its thin skin increases its vulnerability to rot. It |
| originally confirmed in Italy around Venice under the | | | | normally ripens up to two weeks earlier than |
| synonym Bordò in 1855. The grape was launched | | | | Cabernet Sauvignon. Water stress is important to the |
| into the Swiss, sometime in the 19th century and | | | | vine with it thriving in well drained soil more so than |
| was recorded in the Swiss canton of Ticino between | | | | at base of a slope. |
| 1905 and 1910. Researchers at University of | | | | |
| California, Davis believe that the grape is an offspring | | | | Merlot was popular, but then took a dip because of |
| of Cabernet Franc and is a sibling of | | | | the movie sideways. Throughout the film, Miles |
| Carménère. | | | | addresses dotingly of the red wine varietal Pinot Noir. |
| | | | | Following the film's U.S. release in October 2004, |
| After a sequence of delays that | | | | Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot Noir sales |
| consist of a severe frost in 1956 and several | | | | increased 16% in the Western United States. A |
| vintages in the 1960s lost to rot, French authorities in | | | | related trend transpired in British wine outlets. Sales |
| Bordeaux banned new plantings of Merlot vines | | | | of Merlot plummeted after the film's release most |
| between 1970 and 1975. Until 1993, the Chilean wine | | | | likely due to Miles' disapproving remarks about the |
| industry incorrectly sold a large quantity of wine | | | | varietal in the film. |