Contradictory sort of a grape, merlot. It comes from Bordeaux where it’s usually blended with cabernet sauvignon, yet Chateau Petrus, Bordeaux’s most sought-after and expensive red, is virtually straight merlot. In Australia it has improved our cabernet sauvignon-based wines out of all dimension, yet its presence on a wine’s label is the surest way possible to handicap its sales. Despite this, once you accept that much of the plantings of merlot in Australia actually turned out to be cabernet franc – which it closely resembles – this important red French grape has permanently changed the concept of the Australian red wine. Thanks to merlot, many of our better reds are richer and softer, more complex and certainly more complete in cooler seasons. Although most Australian merlot finds its way into a blend, more and more is bottled neat and undiluted with other varieties. And while we don’t exactly have a Chateau Petrus growing in the backyard, our best efforts are hovering ever-closer to the mark. It’s beyond doubt that in merlot, cabernet sauvignon has found its ideal blending partner. Merlot presents sweet fruit flavours of red and black berries, with particular gamey, earthy and sometimes tobaccoey qualities that naturally complement the cedary and occasionally leafy expressions of cabernet. It contributes softness and richness to a blend without making it excessively heavy or clumsy. To acquaint yourself with merlot’s virtues, uncork one from Petaluma, Rosemount, Katnook Estate, Evans and Tate or Trentham Estate. The latter is a bargain-priced wine of excellent varietal expression. Alternatively, the BRL Hardys-owned and made Chais Baumiere Merlot, from the south of France, is a statuesque wine with the sort of fleshy richness and gamey qualities expected of snappier and snazzier labels costing several times its asking price. Some of merlot’s unsung Australian pioneers were the classic reds of Cullens, Mount Mary and Diamond Valley made throughout the late 1970s. They are better today than ever before. The Cullens wine almost flaunts its merlot content, with a brilliant richness, backbone and harmony of gamey and aromatic flavours. The Mount Mary Cabernets is a superlative red which gives Australians a taste of the elegance and complexity of the world’s greatest clarets. The Diamond Valley Cabernet is quite different again, being more of a fruit-driven wine with intensely attractive sweet berry flavours, lovely suppleness and a more modest application of oak. Cool-climate Australian winegrowers know all about the fickleness of cabernet sauvignon. If the sun doesn’t shine enough, if the autumn break of rain comes too early, or if the grapes are excessively shaded by vine foliage, its wines are under-ripened, thin and green to taste and smell. You detect their thinness right in the middle of the mouth, just where the flavour is supposed to be at its most pronounced. In winespeak, these are known as ‘doughnut wines’ and are only released to the market because their makers have no other commercial alternative, or else don’t understand the fickle nature of the cabernet sauvignon variety in marginal climates and cooler vintages. This problem has plagued the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley in Victoria, much of Tasmania and certainly the cooler of South Australia’s regions like the Adelaide Hills. Even Coonawarra, itself considerably warmer, has difficulty ripening cabernet sauvignon fully from time to time, as many wines from the 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989 vintages amply demonstrate. Prior to the introduction of modern viticultural techniques to improve the exposure and ripeness of cool-climate grapes, winemakers had little choice but to resort to shiraz to correct the deficiency of cabernet’s middle palate. Shiraz frequently worked, and continues to do so in some wines, although merlot has been phased in to replace it. Shiraz has a rich, sweet berry flavour which can slot neatly between cabernet’s impact of fruit at the front of the mouth and its long, tannic finish. However its spicy and peppery characters can and frequently do compete with the dark berry fruits, olive and cedar flavours of cabernet sauvignon. Merlot’s ability to ripen earlier is another major advantage. At least some grapes can be harvested near their best from cooler years. Wherever merlot is widely available, blends can be constructed around it, allowing cabernet to play a lesser, more supportive role. The chateaux of Bordeaux adopt this principle to release wines each year, regardless of season. Even in poorer years, merlot enables chateaux to assemble a sound, drinkable and worthwhile wine, if not a great one. Commercially speaking, merlot has another other useful quality. It matures quicker than cabernet, so its blends soften out sooner and lose the jammy intensity and obvious lack of integration evident in many young red wines. Most red wines for sale in Australia are only a year or two old, and most are opened within a week after its purchase. The wineries which can put more immediately drinkable red wines onto retail shelves and restaurant lists are likely to do better. Although merlot, cabernet’s natural partner, is replacing shiraz in more blends year after year, but it’s a phenomenon largely concealed by labelling laws. In Australia a wine can be labelled as a single variety even if comprises only 80% of that grape, so the frequently employed 20% merlot component doesn’t have to rate a mention. Most new vineyards developed for cabernet-based wines include a significant proportion of merlot, but winemakers still fear that the public will not continue to buy the same wines once they’re re-labelled as Cabernet Merlot. Mildara Blass, however, has cast a vote of confidence in merlot by renaming one of the country’s most popular premium wines, the Wolf Blass’ Black Label, as Cabernet Merlot. Watch this grape.
