19/10/2017
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Our Thursday focus is: 🍇
🍇Merlot is one of the most popular wine grapes across the world, coming in second in terms of plantings right behind Cabernet Sauvignon.
🍇Merlot can be grown in cool, medium and warm climates.
🍇Merlot arguably does best in the Bordeaux region where it originated.It is believed that the first time the grape was used in making wine was in the late 1700s when a French winemaker in the Bordeaux region formally labeled the grape as an ingredient in his blend.
🍇Merlot is a grape that, despite primarily being blended in most of Bordeaux, can make a great wine on it's own.
🍇Merlot's smooth tannins can be attributed to the grapes' thin skins. Known for being soft, ripe and elegant, most Merlots are easy drinking reds that go well both with food as well as on their own.
🍇Merlot was first planted in South Africa in 1910. Traditionally blended with Cabernet Sauvignon but increncreasingly bottled on its own
🍇Merlot is the number one selling red wine in South Africa.
🍇Currently 95 775 hectares of vines producing wine grapes are under cultivation in South Africa over an area some 800 kilometres in length Merlot accounts for 5.8%
🍇Classic Merlot often pops the nose with cherry and cocoa. Warm baking spices like vanilla and clove along with earthy undertones in the to***co leaves, wet earth, and smoke arena can also make their aromatic mark on Merlot.
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