Any love for Merlot

[bdellabosca]

Not far for a Perth resident to drive for a visit

Except the vineyard is sold out (every time I look on the website) and I haven't been to Margaret River for a couple of years due to kids. Nasty affliction...

On the NZ side, I quite like the 2013 Craggy Range Sophia but that is still a blend (rather than straight Merlot) and definitely up there in price (2015 vintage is $115 per bottle on the vineyard website).

[Dang]

You guys forget Haan's Merlot Prestige from the Barossa. I had my last one ('00) in a Vancouver restaurant for New Year Eve about ten years ago, absolutely lovely, soft and long palate. The fun part about the wine was the reaction of the sommelier who kept sniffing and commenting how good the nose was. The key of that reaction was he did not give the same reaction to the wine from the next table which turned to be a Petrus!

[Mahmoud Ali]

I've never had a 100% Merlot that made me go wow. Same for 100% Malbec and Petit Verdot - there's always something missing on the palate.

I would say that the Pirramimma Petit Verdot is an exception, the 1997 in particular, which was formidable at cellar door and continues to be so twenty years later.

Mahmoud.

[Ian S]

I've never had a 100% Merlot that made me go wow. Same for 100% Malbec and Petit Verdot - there's always something missing on the palate.

I'm not sure which Cahors I've drunk that were 100% Malbec, but probably quite a few, and with sufficient cellaring I'm more than happy there is enough interest there.

[swirler]

only ever had one good Aussie merlot... the 1994 Petaluma, an effort they failed to repeat since. Beautiful wine, was still going strong 5 years ago when I last saw it.
If you want good, cheap Merlot, look out for Lalande de Pomerol 2015, might be as good as 2009.
2009 Lalande de Pomerol produced literally scores of wonderful wines at ridiculously cheap prices.

Totally off topic - felix, are you and nick21 joined at the hip? Is it like Dame Edna and Barry Humphries are never seen in the same room together?

Don't recall any posts from Nick21. Not recently at least.

[Hacker]

only ever had one good Aussie merlot... the 1994 Petaluma, an effort they failed to repeat since. Beautiful wine, was still going strong 5 years ago when I last saw it.
If you want good, cheap Merlot, look out for Lalande de Pomerol 2015, might be as good as 2009.
2009 Lalande de Pomerol produced literally scores of wonderful wines at ridiculously cheap prices.

Totally off topic - felix, are you and nick21 joined at the hip? Is it like Dame Edna and Barry Humphries are never seen in the same room together?

Don't recall any posts from Nick21. Not recently at least.

TWF. It’s not an issue, just thought they are one and the same person.

[Waiters Friend]

I've never had a 100% Merlot that made me go wow. Same for 100% Malbec and Petit Verdot - there's always something missing on the palate.

I'm not sure which Cahors I've drunk that were 100% Malbec, but probably quite a few, and with sufficient cellaring I'm more than happy there is enough interest there.

Ian, I am with you on the Cahors wine - 100% Malbec and complete wines.

[Ozzie W]

I've never had a 100% Merlot that made me go wow. Same for 100% Malbec and Petit Verdot - there's always something missing on the palate.

I'm not sure which Cahors I've drunk that were 100% Malbec, but probably quite a few, and with sufficient cellaring I'm more than happy there is enough interest there.

Ian, I am with you on the Cahors wine - 100% Malbec and complete wines.

Looking at my notes, seems I've only ever had Cahors once -- last month. It was 2009 Chateau de Rouffiac L'exception. Need to explore this region more.

[michel]

Just picked up a Tarrawarra 2010 @ cellar door to try...

[Mark Carrington]

I am fan of Pomerol & probably prefer it to Left Bank.
At Yarra Yering cellar door last weekend, i thought Merlot was probably the weakest link in a strong range.

[tonym]

only ever had one good Aussie merlot... the 1994 Petaluma, an effort they failed to repeat since. Beautiful wine, was still going strong 5 years ago when I last saw it.
If you want good, cheap Merlot, look out for Lalande de Pomerol 2015, might be as good as 2009.
2009 Lalande de Pomerol produced literally scores of wonderful wines at ridiculously cheap prices.

Is this a vineyard or an region?

[kaos]

Whilst I would not be crushing small children in the rush to obtain, I rate the Belgravia and Mike Press as good wines.

[sparky]

Ruckus Estate in Wrattonbully are pretty focused on Merlot, newer clones in particular.

I haven't had any of their wines as yet but the reviews look promising.

[felixp21]

only ever had one good Aussie merlot... the 1994 Petaluma, an effort they failed to repeat since. Beautiful wine, was still going strong 5 years ago when I last saw it.
If you want good, cheap Merlot, look out for Lalande de Pomerol 2015, might be as good as 2009.
2009 Lalande de Pomerol produced literally scores of wonderful wines at ridiculously cheap prices.

Is this a vineyard or an region?

Lalande de Pomerol is a region, in Bordeaux (right bank) producing mainly merlot-based wines. Whilst it does not have the terroir to compete with the great wines of Pomerol, in excellent vintages, it's wines are amongst the greatest values on Earth. I would highly recommend wines from that region from any of the 05, 09, 10, 15 and probably 16 vintages. Even for the absurd pricing in Australia, there are many, many values to be had around or under the $60 mark.
I purchased a large quantity of 2009 La Fleur de Bouard on release, which cost me $46 a bottle, and regularly show it to fellow wine-lovers when I am back in Australia... they universally are dumbfounded by the quality-price ratio. For my palate, I would drink this before any vintage of 707, and I feel it is far better than any recent-times Aussie merlot.

[RobK]

No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any #$@!ing Merlot!
...had to be done...

An adult response: "I drink a lot of merlot because it is in the great QPR MR Cab Merlot blends. I've yet to taste a straight Merlot I'd buy. I did like an Irvine Grand Merlot brought by someone else but it was too expensive for me to buy ($100+) - if it was half the price I'd definitely have some in my collection."

Slight change of direction. Absolutely loved "Sideways". Merlot sales plummeted and Pinot Noir sales went up ballistically because of those comments.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Had the 2015 Richard Hamilton Lot 148 Merlot yesterday evening, and though it was alright there wasn't much character there.

Mahmoud.

[grapeobserver]

I think the usual reason given for the lousy showing of merlot in this country is the clone. Specifically the D3V14 clone that was sourced from UC Davis in California and widely planted throughout most wine areas. This is very different to the way Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon were introduced.

Apparently the problem is that it tends to over-crop too easily, hence a lot of merlot ends up as a soft, plummy wine. That might have suited a winery that was making a sweet, fruity Merlot for the masses and obviously that’s why a lot of it tastes exactly like that.

Other clones are being tried now. One example is Pepper Tree.

On the other hand, it seems if you talk to people like Irvine the problem isn’t simply the clone. It is more about site, ie. how appropriate merlot is to the site. The soil needs to be free draining (merlot hates wet feet) and must be low yielding. Not tried enough of his wines to know if he is right, but the richer, denser Irvine merlots get mentioned often enough when this discussion comes up.

These are really good comments. A few years ago, I looked into a few of the local clones of merlot and spoke to a few of the Australian producers, having read much the same about clonal deficiencies. The more or less unanimous response was that merlot's underperformance was more about quality ambition and market, than clone. It's a bit long and a bit old being from 2012, but I've re-posted below were that of interest. Perhaps some can update on the performance of the new French clones. Agree on the Katnook and Giant Steps merlots and recall a good one from Yarra Yering but very high priced.

***

Given the quality ambitions of many Australian producers, the relative underperformance of merlot in Australia has always struck me as something of an anomaly that is worthy of further thought and attention. So what is wrong then with Australian merlot? Like all good stories, we have an alleged culprit. Locally the finger generally has been pointed at the merlot clones available in Australia, mostly sourced from California. However, my take on the matter is a slightly different one. While some of the dominant merlot clones available do present some challenges, my observation is that the clone is not the main problem. The reasons for this require some elaboration, but in short, careful viticulture and viniculture, seasonal chance, producer intent to make (and consumer demand for) a fine wine made from merlot appear to matter more to the quality of Australian merlot, than the choice of merlot clone. But let me explain.

A potted history of merlot in Australia

Merlot’s history in Australia is in fact a relatively recent one. While it is officially reported to have been planted as early as 1923, it appears not to have graced many commercial radars until 1980, when James Halliday reported that 68 tonnes of merlot had been crushed. In 2009, this figure had grown to almost 127,000 tonnes, making it Australia’s third largest red grape variety crushed, after shiraz (syrah) and cabernet sauvignon. If nothing else, it is a substantial rate of increase. Yet even in 2011, James Halliday wondered aloud “who is drinking it?”

Which brings us to the matter of merlot and its clones. A clone according to Jancis Robinson MW’s wine bible, The Oxford Companion to Wine, is a single vine or a population of vines all derived from vegetative propagation from cuttings or buds from a single mother vine by deliberate selection. If the “mother vine” has unsatisfactory characteristics, it thus follows that clones of that vine too generally will underperform.

In terms of the clones of merlot available in Australia, there were nine referred to in a comprehensive study by Phil Nicholas of the South Australian Research and Development Institute in 2006. While their names bear a closer resemblance to airport departure gates than is perhaps comfortable, it is useful to identify them, because so much of the debate on the alleged underperformance of Australian merlot has centred on them. The clones are the RVC13, the Q45-15, the D3V14, the D3V5, the D3V7, the FPS06 (aka the “6R”), the FPS08 (aka the “8R”), the FPS18 and the SAVII02. Six of these nine clones originate from California (one originally from Argentina), with the remainder from Australia, Canada (originally from Italy) and Italy itself. Interestingly, no clones from Bordeaux appear on this list, a fact I will return to shortly.

Down with the D3V14?

The most maligned of the merlot clones has also been the most popularly planted - the D3V14. Its popularity is attested to by Nick Dry, viticulturalist at the Yalumba Nursery in South Australia, who remarks that this is the only merlot clone planted in Australia in large volumes. The D3V14 was imported into Australia from UC Davis in California in 1965. The criticisms of the clone have come from varying sources, but the principal objections appear to be its lack of French origin, the existence of many very average merlot based wines in Australia, and some apparent difficulty in achieving balanced grapes in the vineyard. Are these criticisms of merit? In my opinion, perhaps not. The first two points appear unable to survive sensible scrutiny - that a grape clone is from California or that bad merlot exists, does not prove of itself that the clone is unsatisfactory.

The latter point is perhaps however of more justifiable interest. According to Yalumba, the D3V14 produces vines that have low shoot vigour, high fruit to leaf ratios (which can delay ripening), are very sensitive to yield and are susceptible to dry soil conditions. The practical result of this is that the clone is moderately “high maintenance” (or “sooky” as I read in one presentation) requiring shoot and fruit thinning to reduce yield, and push shoot growth, in order to create a balanced vine. Anecdotal evidence referred to by Nick suggests that there is also a fine balance to be sought between achieving tannin ripeness without overripe or simplistic fruit flavours and picking too early and garnering unattractive green characters in the wine.

With these facts to hand then, it would seem that planted in the wrong place, or in the wrong hands, the D3V14 merlot clone used widely in Australia is more than capable of underachieving. The risk of overcropping and the importance of picking at optimal ripeness, however, is in fairness probably not a problem unique to the D3V14 or the merlot grape in particular. It is a common lament where quality wine is absent. So, perhaps then the clone isn’t the entire story. But, let us test this notion. To that end, I asked some of Australia’s leading merlot producers, Irvine Wines and Henschke and the up and coming boutique winery, Blue Poles.

James Irvine of Irvine Wines in the Barossa Valley produces a number of merlot based wines, including their well regarded “Grand Merlot”. The Grand Merlot not surprisingly includes a majority of grapes from the D3V14 clone. James rails against the suggestion that the D3V14 clone is problematic and notes that while Australian merlot clearly can underperform, this is probably more a combination of a lack of attention in the vineyard (with grapes not being picked at the optimum time or yield), the young age of many of Australia’s merlot vines and inattentive winemaking not being specific to producing good merlot. That is, Irvine mostly identifies problems other than with the clone itself.

Mark Gifford of new wine producer Blue Poles comments similarly. His Blue Poles vineyard in the Margaret River has predominantly the D3V14 clone planted, with a chance of a portion of the D3V7 based on field observations. Mark shares the views of James Irvine, remarking that the excuses for new clones are rather banal and show more about the approach to merlot and the wine it produces than the clone itself. Pointed reference is made to merlot being considered only a “filler” by a large majority of Australia’s wine making fraternity, with many being made from barrels left over from cabernet sauvignon and merlot blends. Market reasons are also suggested as a cause of merlot’s underperformance, with wineries happily meeting the demand for fat, soft and uncomplicated merlot (an applied example being the Yellow Tail phenomenon) which results in sales, rather than perhaps critical acclaim. Mark also raises the interesting point that in tasting numerous different merlot clones in Bordeaux, it became apparent to him that soils and location created the biggest difference in wine as well as cropping and pruning methodology, rather than any particular clone in use. In Mark’s words:

“So combined, you have a variety that is over-cropped, picked too early or too late, made in a generic style and our solution? Get better clones”.

On this analysis, pinning Australia’s underperformance with the merlot grape on the choice of clone appears somewhat naive.

Henschke have a collection of merlot vines - the most widely planted being not surprisingly the D3V14. However, they also have a fulsome clonal collection including the D3V5, D3V7, Q45-15, 6R and 8R. Prue Henschke observed that she does not see a great deal of difference between the merlot clones, beyond them all setting poorly on their own roots which gives some yield control. Instead, season seems to the biggest influence on quality for Henschke. Nonetheless, Prue indicates that Henschke are looking to plant the French 181 clone (discussed below) in their Eden Valley vineyard as early as 2013.

What about the other clones?

While predominant, the D3V14 clone is of course certainly not the only merlot clone in Australia. Thus, for good order, it seems necessary to have a look at the others. Two clones that have attracted some recent interest are the Q45-15 and the 8R. The former was sourced from Canada in 1990 and has its origins in Italy. The 8R was sourced from UC Davis in California in 1991 and has Argentinian origins. According to Nick Dry of the Yalumba Nursery, the Q45-15 is said to produce higher shoot vigour and lower fruit to leaf ratios resulting in better balance relative to the D3V14. It also has lower berry and bunch weights and is earlier ripening than the D3V14 and thus has been met with favour. The 8R according to Yalumba analytically tends to produce moderate yields, yet is the earliest ripening. Similar to the Q45-15, it produces vines with higher shoot vigour and a lower fruit to shoot ratio than the D3V14. However, as pointed out by James Irvine, both the Q45-15 and 8R clones remain relatively new, and so the results are still coming in.

Older clones that have also found their way in Australian vineyards include the D3V5 and the D3V7, both imported from UC Davis in California in 1971 and 1976 respectively. Here James Irvine observes that the D3V5 has similarities to the D3V14, while the D3V7 develops good flavours at a much lower baumé. The Irvines plan to bring out the D3V7 clone as a varietal wine in 2012, which possibly will be a local first, as well as a vote of confidence in another older Californian sourced clone.

What about French clones?

It is difficult to conclude a discussion of fine merlot, without consideration of Chateau Petrus - arguably merlot’s finest, and certainly its most famous, expression. While there is probably some truth in Mark Gifford’s observation that the “the new world obsession with clones is seen as mad by the Bordelaise”, nonetheless I think it attracts inevitable interest.

Therefore, it is perhaps no surprise that efforts to bring French merlot clones to Australia have been afoot, and two have recently reached Australian shores. These are the ENTAV- INRA(R) No 181 and the ENTAV-INRA(R) No 343, both of which originate from the Gironde. The former clone is said to be a lower yielding clone that is highly regarded in France, and one of the most propagated in Europe. The latter clone is also highly regarded in France, with moderate yields and sufficient tannins to suit aging. Further specifics as to actual origin of the vines seem unavailable.

Nick Dry expects that these new French clones will quickly become preferred clones, and given that Henschke would already appear to be on board, he may well be right. Whether that leads to quality improvements in Australian merlot though is perhaps a different question, although it obviously will be interesting to see whether it does. To my mind, if the above analysis is correct, we may see quality improvements if only because wineries planting the new French clones might be more desirous of making fine wine.

[Ozzie W]

Very informative and insightful. Thanks grapeobserver.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Informative indeed, thank you.

On reflection I recall that Jeremy Oliver, in one of his older OnWine guides, said that he thought the problem with Australian merlot was that when the fad for merlot took hold, many winemakers simply took their shiraz winemaking skills and applied them to the making of merlot. He suggested that when winemakers learn to pay attention to the the vineyard and treat merlot as it ought to be in the winery, that Australian merlot will gain it's rightful position. However, it seems that it hasn't really worked out and I'm almost certain that he makes the clonal argument in his 2016 wine guide.

Clearly, more work need to be done. Of course there is nothing wrong with merlot being an adjunct varietal for cabernet as it has been in Bordeaux.

Mahmoud.

[tonym]

Since I asked the question if there is any love for Merlot I have had a few Aussie, French and US merlots ranging in price from $15 to $60 and most have been quite good but recently I tried the Blue Poles Allouran and the Reserve merlot and find them to be a step above all the others I have tried. I will try to get more in the future