What is the role of Merlot in a Bordeaux blend? Long time Bordeaux insider David Launay talks about this grape and how it fits into this classic blend.
David Launay is the former Commercial Director at Château Gruaud-Larose in St.Julien, Bordeaux and has extensive experience helping in the cellar and in the vines.
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• Château Gruaud-Larose
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Video Text:
Merlot is the teammate of the Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux.
Merlot brings the sweetness, the fruitiness in the wine and because of the sweetness and the alcohol that the Merlot is providing you have also the roundness in the wine. So it's a beautiful grape variety "cepage", matching perfectly well with the Cabernet Sauvignon because of these characteristics, with also this black fruit flavors that you can get in the Merlot. In order to have this expression you need to have the perfect soil and in our region, in the Medoc, the best soil for the Petit Verdot...sorry for the Merlot, is the clay. Clay and limestone are the best type of soil for the Merlot.
(Question: What percentage of Merlot is usually in the blend?)
(At Gruaud-Larose) I would say it can goes from twenty one percent twenty-two percent of Merlot to I think the biggest proportion of Merlot was in 2004 with thirty three percent of Merlot. But the the signature of the Merlot at Gruaud Larose is when you when the mellow is reaching 29 or 30, around thirty percent of Merlot, and then you have this roundness the sweetness in the blend.
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