Principal red grape
Merlot
How to read this
Capitals mark the stressed syllable. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.
Merlot is a black grape that DNA markers show is a cross of Cabernet Franc and Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, and Bordeaux’s most planted grape: 66% of its red vineyard in 2020.
Merlot is the grape of most of Bordeaux, and a half-sibling of Cabernet Sauvignon: both have Cabernet Franc as a parent. Its other parent stayed hidden until DNA markers found it. In a study published in 2009, Jean-Michel Boursiquot and his colleagues identified Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, and from chloroplast markers they read it as the likely mother, with Cabernet Franc as the likely father. As the grape geneticist José Vouillamoz tells it, that parent first turned up in 1996 as one relic vine with a unique DNA profile, at Saint-Suliac in Brittany, and then, between 2004 and 2007, in the Charentes, as a “Raisin de la Madeleine”.
The written record starts near Libourne. Vouillamoz dates the first known mention, as “Merlau”, to 1783 or 1784: a grape that “makes a black and excellent wine” (“fait un vin noir et excellent”). In 1824 William Franck, the Bordeaux wine merchant whose Traité sur les vins du Médoc first appeared that year, listed it among the best red grapes of the Gironde and explained the name: “they gave the name Merlot to this vine because the blackbird likes this grape very much” (“On a donné le nom de Merlot à cette variété de vigne, parce que le merle ( oiseau ) aime beaucoup ce raisin”).
In 1855 Armand d’Armailhacq, a Médoc proprietor, wrote that the merlau had been “grown only a short time in the Médoc” (“cultivée depuis peu de temps en Médoc”). Auguste Petit-Lafitte, professor of agriculture of the Gironde, noted in La vigne dans le Bordelais (1868) that Secondat, writing in 1785, does not mention it, “which could be a sign of its newness” (“ce qui pourrait être un indice de sa nouveauté”). He also gave the reason for its welcome: blended with Cabernet, its must gives the wine “more lightness, more delicacy, more mellowness” (“plus de légèreté, plus de délicatesse, plus de moëlleux”).
Its great turn came late. Between 1988 and 2018 Merlot gained 27,614 hectares in the Gironde, most of them by 2000, and in 2018 it covered 60% of the department’s vineyard and 65% of its red appellations, by the count of Agreste, the statistics service of the French agriculture ministry. In 2023 Victoria Sichel’s doctoral thesis on genomic tools for selection within grape varieties noted that Merlot already shows the effects of climate change, in higher sugar at harvest and so higher potential alcohol.
Oldest record in my library: “Merlau”, near Libourne, 1783 or 1784, as José Vouillamoz reports (Wine Scholar Guild lecture, 2023); first direct record: William Franck, Traité sur les vins du Médoc, 1824
The family
Magdeleine Noire des Charentes shown by DNA markers
Cabernet Franc shown by DNA markers
Merlot
Merlot Blanc shown by DNA markers
- Boursiquot et al. 2009, AJGWR 15:144-155; VIVC 7657
- Boursiquot et al. 2009; Lacombe et al. 2013; VIVC 7655
The discovery: In 2009, Jean-Michel Boursiquot and colleagues showed with DNA markers that Merlot is a cross of Cabernet Franc and Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.
The names
As the Gironde books wrote it: merlau, merleau, Vitraille, Bigney, Alicante, Crabutet, plan-Médoc, Plant-Médoc, Sémillon-Rouge.
Other names in VIVC: Begney, Bidal, Bidalhe, Bigney, Bigney Rouge, Crabutet, Crabutet Noir, Crabutet Noir Merlau, Higney, Langon, Medoc Noir, Merlau, Merlau Rouge, Merlaud.
Old names: Saint-Macaire (likely)
In today’s rules
Principal (red) in 30 of the appellations and designations on this site; principal (rosé) in 1; principal (sparkling) in 1.
- Principal · red
- Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (red and clairet), Bordeaux Supérieur, Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux, Canon Fronsac, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Bordeaux, Côtes de Bourg, Entre-deux-Mers, Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, Fronsac, Graves, Graves de Vayres, Haut-Médoc, Lalande-de-Pomerol, Listrac-Médoc, Lussac-Saint-Émilion, Margaux, Montagne-Saint-Émilion, Moulis, Médoc, Pauillac, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol, Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion, Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion, Saint-Julien, Saint-Émilion, Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux
- Principal · rosé
- Bordeaux
- Principal · sparkling
- Crémant de Bordeaux
Area planted
- 66% share of red-variety area, Bordeaux vineyard (CIVB), 2020
CIVB, Bordeaux Key Facts 2021 (data labeled 'Signature grapes (2020 data)'), PDF hosted at https://www.about-drinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CIVB-Bordeaux-Key-Facts-2021_09.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12 - 60% share of the Gironde vineyard (red and white), Gironde, 2018
Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), p. 73 text, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12 - 65% share of red-appellation area, Gironde, 2018
Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), p. 73 text, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12 - 92,845 ha planted area, France, 2024
FranceAgriMer, Les chiffres-clés de la filière viti-vinicole 2024 (December 2025 edition), p. 11 'Les principaux cépages plantés en 2024', source printed: DGDDI, déclarations de plantation au 31/07/2025 (CVI), https://www.franceagrimer.fr/sites/default/files/2025-12/20251121_CC%20VITI%20VINICOLE%20%202025.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12
Stands out at
In the books
“It covers 18 hectares, admirably farmed and planted with the best grapes, such as the Bouchet, the Merlot, and the Noir de Pressac.”
Il comprend 18 hectares admirablement cultivés , complantés des meilleurs cépages , tels que le Bouchet , le Merlot et le Noir de Pressac
“The red vineyard of château-Barit, now being enlarged and improved, is planted only with malbec and merlot, which have been put in place of the common grapes.”
Le vignoble rouge du château-Barit, en voie d’agrandissement et d’amélioration, est exclusivement complanté en malbec et merlot qui ont été substitués aux cépages communs.
“The other part has been rebuilt by grafting our best grapes, merlot, cabernet, and malbec, onto riparia or jaquez.”
L'autre partie a été reconstituée par la greffe de nos meilleurs cépages : merlot , cabernet et malbec , sur riparia ou jaquez .
“This excellent vineyard, one of the foremost of the commune, is planted as follows: 1/3 merlot, 1/3 malbec or noir de Pressac, 1/6 cabernet-franc, 1/6 cabernet-sauvignon.”
Cet excellent vignoble , un des premiers de la commune , est cépagé comme suit : 1/3 merlot , 1/3 malbec ou noir de pressac , 1/6 cabernet - franc , 1 / 6cabernet - sauvignon .
My library records it planted at 383 estates, and 38 of them have a page here:
- Château des Laurets 1868
- Clos Fourtet 1868
- Château Citran 1874
- Château Grand Clapeau Olivier 1874
- Château Lanessan 1874
- Château Siran 1874
- Château de Rochemorin 1874
- Château Haut-Bailly 1886
- Château Saint-Georges 1886
- Château de Portets 1886
- Château Falfas 1893
- Château Jean Faure 1893
- Château La Conseillante 1893
- Château La Couspaude 1893
- Château Lafleur 1893
- Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion 1893
- Château Lyonnat 1893
- Château Maucaillou 1893
- Château Sociando-Mallet 1893
- Château Villemaurine 1893
- Château d’Aiguilhe 1893
- Château Beauregard 1898
- Château Clinet 1898
- Château Larcis Ducasse 1898
- Château Mangot 1898
- Château Montaiguillon 1898
- Château Petit Faurie de Soutard 1898
- Château Plince 1898
- Château Preuillac 1898
- Château Soutard 1898
- Château Grand Mayne 1922
- Château Lafon 1922
- Château Lamothe-Cissac 1922
- Château Laroze 1922
- Château Nairac 1922
- Château Tour Seran 1922
- Château Tour des Termes 1922
- Domaine Andron 1922
Timeline
- 1783First known mention, as 'Merlau', in the Libourne area: a black grape making 'un vin noir et excellent'.
José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023 - 1824The name 'Merlot' is explained as coming from the blackbird (merle) that likes the grape; the same year Franck lists 'le Merlot' among the best red varieties of the Gironde.
José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023; Wilhelm Franck, Traité sur les vins du Médoc, 1st ed., 1824 - 1869Phylloxera is found on vine roots at Floirac, near Bordeaux, on June 11, 1869; the vines had looked sick for 2 or 3 years.
Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 5th ed., 1886, section 'Phylloxera', p. 35 (same text in the 1883 English ed., and 6th ed. 1893) - 1956The great frosts of February 1956 devastate vineyards around Saint-Émilion; replanting is subsidized, and on family estates such as Latour-Fonrazade the vine becomes a true monoculture.
Philippe Roudié, 'Quelques aspects de l'évolution récente du vignoble de Saint-Émilion', Revue Géographique des Pyrénées et du Sud-Ouest, t. 39, 1968 - 2000Merlot's main expansion in the Gironde happens between 1988 and 2000; over 1988 to 2018 it gains 27,614 ha.
Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), '1. Le foncier viticole: la Gironde', C. Lavaud and J. Bonotaux, p. 73, Figure 2 'Évolution des surfaces par encépagement entre 1988 et 2018, en hectare' (sources printed: RGA 1988, CVI 2018), https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12; Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), p. 73 text, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12 - 2009Merlot's parents are identified: Cabernet Franc and Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.
Boursiquot et al. 2009, as cited in V. Sichel Lesbats-Sichel, Identification et sélection intra-variétale de la vigne..., PhD thesis 2023, https://theses.hal.science/tel-04964120v1 - 2018Merlot covers 60% of the Gironde vineyard and 65% of red appellations.
Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), p. 73 text, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed 2026-10-12
In the lab
More than 4,087 studies and theses in the Bordeaux Reviews library mention this grape.
- The resilient Merlot: from global growth to sustainable viticulture and winemaking in the age of climate change
Emma Gridello, A. Colautti, Michela Pellegrini, G. Comi, L. Iacumin, 2025 - A novel application of the consumer rejection threshold method to the design of binary red wine blends prepared from traditional and fungus-resistant varieties
Caroline Paire, F. Cheriet, Alain Samson, Christian Chervin, Audrey Arino, Gabriel Ruetsch, Estelle Ithurralde, Olivier Geffroy, 2025 - Identification et sélection intra-variétale de la vigne à l'aide des outils génomiques actuels
Victoria Sichel Lesbats-Sichel, 2023 - Impact of harvest date on aroma compound composition of Merlot and Cabernet-Sauvignon must and wine in a context of climate change: a focus on cooked fruit molecular markers
Lucile Allamy, Cornelis van Leeuwen, Alexandre Pons, 2023 - Chimeras in Merlot grapevine revealed by phased assembly
Victoria Sichel, Gautier Sarah, Nabil Girollet, Valérie Laucou, Catherine Roux, et al. (incl. Pierre-François Bert, Loïc Le Cunff, Patrice This, Thierry Lacombe), 2022
Sources
- Boursiquot, J.-M.; Lacombe, T.; Laucou, V.; et al., 'Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link', Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research 15 (2): 144-155, 2009 (online December 2008), doi 10.1111/j.1755-0238.2008.00041.x (abstract via OpenAlex: putative mother and father)
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, passport id 7657, accessed October 2026
- José Vouillamoz, 'The Powerful Potentates of the Grape World: Noiriens and Carmenets' (Wine Scholar Guild lecture slides), September 17, 2023 (Merlau 1783-4, Libourne; relic vine at Saint-Suliac 1996; Charentes 'Raisin de la Madeleine' 2004-2007)
- 'Saint-Suliac', fr.wikipedia.org (commune of Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne; Mont Garrot), accessed October 2026
- Wilhelm (William) Franck, Traité sur les vins du Médoc, 1st ed., 1824, ch. 2
- Armand d'Armailhacq, La culture des vignes, la vinification et les vins dans le Médoc, 1855, ch. 2
- Auguste Petit-Lafitte, La vigne dans le Bordelais, Paris, J. Rothschild, 1868 (title page: 'Professeur d'agriculture du dép. de Gironde')
- Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 2nd ed., 1868 (Clos-Fourtet)
- Charles Cocks (rev. Édouard Féret), Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 3rd ed., 1874 (château-Barit)
- Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 6th ed., 1893 (domaine de Lacabanne)
- Charles Cocks & Édouard Féret, Bordeaux et ses vins classés par ordre de mérite, 9th ed., 1922 (La Conseillante)
- Agreste Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Études n°7 (June 2020, rectificatif), C. Lavaud and J. Bonotaux, '1. Le foncier viticole: la Gironde', p. 73 text and Figure 2, https://draaf.nouvelle-aquitaine.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/AgresteNAEtudes_7juin2020_FFvitiGironde_RECTIFICATIF_cle0edc51.pdf, accessed October 2026
- CIVB, Bordeaux Key Facts 2021 ('Signature grapes (2020 data)'), https://www.about-drinks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CIVB-Bordeaux-Key-Facts-2021_09.pdf, accessed October 2026
- Victoria Sichel Lesbats-Sichel, Identification et sélection intra-variétale de la vigne à l'aide des outils génomiques actuels, PhD thesis, 2023, https://theses.hal.science/tel-04964120v1
- Röckel et al. (2026): Vitis International Variety Catalogue, www.vivc.de, accessed October 2026
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