Always worth musing on, merlot. It’s certainly occupying the headspace of a number of Australian winemakers right now. The last couple of months have seen both Pepper Tree and Xanadu stage very impressive tastings at which some of the best from Australia have been stacked up against world-rated merlots from France, the US, Italy and New Zealand. Other than to say that these tastings have consistently shown that the French have an enormous headstart over the rest with this grape, it is fair to say that Australians are gradually moving closer towards their goal. Exactly what that goal happens to be still remains a matter of some conjecture. Wines like James Irvine’s Grand Merlot, the Petaluma Merlot and Pepper Tree’s Coonawarra Reserve Merlot have each suggested from time to time that they’re close to defining a classic Australian style. But all too often, what might once have appeared as a terrific young merlot simply doesn’t stand up to time in the bottle. Australians have been attempting to make world-class merlot for the better part of a decade and a half and to be frank, our successes have been rather thin on the ground. By and large we’ve followed the American trend not to blend merlot with other red varieties, which perhaps suggests to the consumer that the only decent merlot is made from 100% straight merlot. The French experience would suggest otherwise. Pomerol is the region on the right bank of the river system in Bordeaux most closely affiliated with varietal merlot, yet cabernet franc typically makes up between 15-20% of a final blend. Cabernet franc is used to even a greater extent in St-Emilion, where it is also not unusual to find small amounts of cabernet sauvignon or even malbec blended into the wines of major chateaux. By and large, Australians are perhaps handicapped by an absence of quality cabernet franc in wine regions like Coonawarra that are showing some potential with merlot. Perhaps we’re also handicapped by an unwillingness to experiment with the cabernet franc we do have in the ground. The great irony about this is that cabernet franc and merlot vines can look rather similar at certain times of the year, and most of the early ‘merlot’ planted in Australia was actually cabernet franc! Rosemount Estate was the early pace-setter of Australian merlot, releasing some very credible and complex Show Reserve wines from the mid and late 1980s from Coonawarra fruit. James Irvine then won plaudits for his concentrated, deeply oaked Grand Merlot wine, which tends these days to look a little old-fashioned against the modern pace-setters from France, California and even Australia. Evans & Tate’s Margaret River label produced some fine, stylish merlots around the turn of the 1990s, while Petaluma’s deep, heady and concentrated Merlot was first made from the 1990 vintage. I still rate some Petaluma wines very highly, but have to admit that the powerfully extracted 1998 vintage hasn’t lived up to my early expectations. Meantime, Katnook Estate quietly refined its own Merlot, releasing a very consistent and stylish collection since the late 1980s. Its base in the Hunter Valley hasn’t stopped Pepper Tree from creating some exceptional merlot under its Reserve label, again from Coonawarra fruit, while the semi-related but Coonawarra-based brand of Parker has produced two very promising wines from 1998 and 1999. Were I to nominate three Australian wine regions most likely to succeed with merlot, they would be Coonawarra, Margaret River and the Yarra Valley, despite the latter’s patchy record with the variety. Yarra Yering and Oakridge have both released very expensive, but frankly quite assumptive merlots, while on just two occasions – 1982 and 1992 – Mount Mary separated a small amount of straight, but very handsome merlot from its Quintet blend of red Bordeaux grapes. From time to time Coldstream Hills has also shown considerable potential with the variety. If there was a merlot wildcard out there, my guess would be the Great Southern region of WA, with special focus on Frankland River in the north of the region and Denmark towards the south. Some parcels made by Frankland Estate and by John Wade in his new venture under his own name have looked very encouraging. It’s worth it for all of us to keep persevering with merlot. At their best its wines are incomparable, with a fleshiness of ripe, pure dark cherry fruit and a silky fineness of ripe tannin that other grapes can’t replicate. All we need to figure out is where to grow it, with what to blend with it and how to make it. After that, it should be rather easy. Breakaway: Australia’s Ten Best Merlot Makers Coldstream Hills Evans & Tate Heggies James Irvine Leconfield Katnook Estate Parker Pepper Tree Petaluma Taltarni
