Merlot Wine Facts

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm going to tell you about Merlot. Now before you go to the next video, let me tell you Merlot might have a bad reputation, but it doesn't deserve it. It's a fine wine, it's an excellent wine. Merlot is actually from the region of France called Berdou, and it's one of the five grapes that is allowed to go into the fine, very impressive wines of Berdou. So don't discount Merlot because of what you've heard, or some movie you might have seen. Merlot is an ancient variety, it grows through out the world. It does well in a lot of different places. I love a California Merlot, I love a Washington State Merlot, Texas makes a good Merlot. And if you want a great wine at a good price, try a Merlot from South America. Chilean Merlot is one of the best buys out there for wine. As a matter of fact I tell people, if you only have $10 and you want a good bottle of wine, Chilean Merlot is probably your best bet. They also make good Merlots in Argentina, and also in Australia. Now when you approach a glass of Merlot, you're going to be interested to know that Merlot is one of the few wines in the world that actually smells like grapes. You'd think we'd talk about grapes a little bit more than we do in wine class, but we don't. Okay, so you take up a glass of Merlot, in the bottom of the glass you will get the really, very indicative aroma of grapes, and this may remind you of welches grape juice, or grape jelly or grape jam, that's going to tell you it's a Merlot. However, it gets a little bit more interesting from there, you can also smell like blueberries and blackberries. In the middle of the glass it can have a nice herbal quality, it might remind you of eucalyptis or dill or green bell peppers. At the top of the glass, you're going to get a little bit of floral aromas like rose and violet. As a matter of fact, if you pick up a glass of wine, and it's grape at the bottom, rose at the top, it's a verily good idea, you probably have a Merlot. It will be dry and medium body, it'll have smooth tannins. The grape Merlot itself is a little bit larger than other wine grapes, and that's where it got its easy drinking reputation, because it can be very juicy and fruity, and low in tannin, which makes it very crowd pleasing for a lot of people. But don't buy into that bad Merlot reputation. Merlot is a mighty fine wine, it can be very serious. And as far as I'm concerned, it's the best wine in the world served with lamb. If you want to remember that, just remember, "Mary had a little lamb, her fleece were white as snow, and every where that Mary went, Merlot was sure to go". "