Dry Red Wine

Merlot – A Popular Dry Red Wine

Merlot is considered to be one of the more interesting dry red wines that are available to buy today. It is sold as both a wine on its own as well as a blended wine, unlike many other grapes that are only sold as a single varietal wine. The American version of Merlot is the most popular despite the fact that it originated from France.

 

The grapes that are used to make Merlot tend to have a medium body and will have give off flavors that are close to those of plum, currant, and blackberry when you are tasting it. Merlot is a dry red wine that is known to be soft to the taste and is a favorite for people who are looking for something with less bite and tartness than a Cabernet Sauvignon has.

 

American Merlot was mostly made in California and was made as a pure varietal. The Californian wine makers were the first to show how versatile Merlot was and start blending it with other types of red grapes. This blending style created a Bordeaux style of wine that became very popular and is still popular today. However, the pure varietal of this dry red wine is still the most popular and continues to be produced all over the world.

 

Like many of the dry red wines that are made in America, Merlot was originally first bottled in California, but has also been successful growing in Washington State. Some wine connoisseurs will argue that Washington would not have gotten into the wine industry if it hadn’t been for Merlot. Merlot accounts for about 1/5^th of all wine produced in Washington today. If you consider all the different types of grapes that are grown around the world, that is a large amount for just that one state.

 

The Merlot wines that you can buy that are from Washington are recognized by their dark red color that is very close to being black as well as the level of acidity which is well balanced and composed. The people that consider themselves experts on wine like to keep with the traditional French varietal of Merlot, but American Merlot is becoming more popular and is giving French Merlot a good competition.