Vincent Bouquet Merlot

Vincent Bouquet Merlot from Languedoc, France. A just very nice Merlot, with quite a bit of flesh. Plums and blackberries spiced with bay leaf. Pleasant to drink cool.

Merlot comes from the word merle, which is French for blackbird. Merlot is a classic grape variety used in Bordeaux wines in combination with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. It was long regarded there as an inferior grape that lacked personality of its own and was used in the Médoc and Pessac-Léognan/Graves just to take the edge off cabernet. Where it did appear on its own and showed a surprising, full-bodied, ripe, lush personality with an inviting juiciness was in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. Only when both wine regions stepped out of the shadow of their neighbours could merlot step out of cabernet’s shadow. Since then, it was successfully planted in California and later followed by just about every region of the world. Merlot is one of the king of grapes in Bordeaux but is also successfully grown in Languedoc further afield in France. It is also loved in California, Italy, Eastern Europe, Chile and even as far away as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.