Red Grape · Tuscany
In Italy Merlot lives a double life: the soft, plummy everyday red of the northeast, and, on the clay of the Tuscan coast, the single grape behind Masseto and some of the country's most coveted reds.
Merlot is a red grape with a serious Italian footprint. Bolgheri DOC, Bolgheri Rosso, Cortona DOC, Suvereto DOCG, Rubicone IGT and Montello Rosso DOCG form its Italian map. It moves from supple coastal Tuscany to fresher styles in Veneto and Emilia Romagna. It usually shows plum fruit, firm tannin and polished oak.
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Setting it straight
The anchor fact: No. In Italy Merlot ranges from the soft everyday house red of the northeast to Masseto, Messorio and Redigaffi, single-grape Tuscan-coast wines that rank among the most expensive in the country.
Taste · Where it sits
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Merlot described against grapes you already know.
Fuller than the light everyday Merlot of Alto Adige, and on Bolgheri clay it rivals Cabernet Sauvignon for sheer weight.
Ample but ripe and velvety, without the astringent grip of Sangiovese or the tannic wall of Nebbiolo.
Moderate and softer than the bright, food-cutting acidity of Sangiovese, which is why Merlot drinks so smoothly.
Bone dry, yet the ripe plum and black cherry read fruitier and rounder than tart Sangiovese or savoury Nebbiolo.
Key flavours
The map
Merlot is full-bodied, firm tannin, mapped against other red grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and grip resemble Merlot.
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Serving guide
Serve at
16-18°C
Serve at 16 to 18C: warm enough to lift the plum and cocoa, cool enough to keep the high alcohol of a Bolgheri Merlot in check.
Decant
30 minutes
A short 30-minute decant rounds a young Tuscan Merlot's oak; the everyday northeast bottlings need none.
Glass
Large Balloon Glass
A large balloon glass gives the plush plum and chocolate aromatics room to gather.
Drink within
3-5 days
Everyday northeast Merlot is plush on release, best drunk within a few years while the fruit is vivid.
Cellar
3-7 years
Serious Bolgheri and Suvereto Merlot (Masseto, Messorio, Redigaffi) has the structure to reward a decade or more in the cellar.
On the table
Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.
Bistecca on the coast
A ripe Bolgheri Merlot meets the charred T-bone with velvety tannin, rounder against the meat than a firm Chianti Classico.
Pastry and plum
The plush plum fruit and soft tannins wrap the rich beef and pastry without the acidic cut of Sangiovese.
Sunday roast
Merlot's velvety texture and cocoa depth make it a gentle, crowd-pleasing match for roast beef and its gravy.
Veneto bitter-sweet
An everyday Merlot del Veneto, plummy and soft, offsets the bitter edge of Treviso radicchio the way a high-tannin red cannot.
Browse every pairing
Buy it · three to start with
A curated trio across the price range, then every Merlot on sale in the UK right now.
Entry · everyday
2 retailers
Veneto
2 retailers
£8.74
Why this one: The everyday northeast face of Merlot: soft, plummy and easy, the house red that shows why the grape blankets the Veneto.
The sweet spot
4 retailers
Toscana
4 retailers
£54.00
Why this one: Frescobaldi's 100% Merlot off the clay of Castelgiocondo, all ripe plum, cherry and barrique cocoa, serious Tuscan Merlot below the Bolgheri icons' price.
12 of 448 bottles
13 retailers
Toscana
13 retailers
£44.09
11 retailers
Bolgheri
11 retailers
£125.00
10 retailers
Toscana
10 retailers
£22.94
9 retailers
Toscana
9 retailers
£53.72
9 retailers
Bolgheri
9 retailers
£55.00
9 retailers
Toscana
9 retailers
£595.00
8 retailers
Chianti Classico
8 retailers
£24.00
8 retailers
Toscana
8 retailers
£73.22
£90.80
7 retailers
Bolgheri
7 retailers
£45.58
7 retailers
Toscana
7 retailers
£89.24
6 retailers
Toscana
6 retailers
£18.90
£20.54
6 retailers
Isola dei Nuraghi
6 retailers
£29.63
Denominations
The appellations where Merlot plays a starring role.
Where it grows
From galestro hills in Chianti Classico to the single Brunello rise of Montalcino and the sea-facing Cabernets of Bolgheri, Tuscany is Italian wine's stage in Read more
Italy's pasta plains pour fizzy Lambrusco from Modena and Reggio, ageworthy Sangiovese di Romagna, Albana DOCG whites, and Bologna's gentle Pignoletto. Read more
Italy's largest wine region by volume, where Prosecco hills, Valpolicella ridges, and Soave's volcanic plain shape three different Italian classics. Read more
Italy's smallest southern producer, where Aglianico ripens late on the volcanic cones of Mount Vulture and Matera's tufa cellars age the country's most Read more
The terroir
Merlot found two Italian homes: the cool, high-volume northeast where it is an everyday varietal, and the warm clay of the Tuscan coast where it became a world-class single-grape wine.
The Tuscan coast
Bolgheri and Suvereto
Deep blue clay ripens Merlot to its peak, the 100% Merlot behind Masseto, Messorio and Redigaffi.
The everyday northeast
Alto Adige and the Veneto
Cooler, lighter and faintly herbal, Merlot here is one of the most planted reds, poured young as a soft house wine.
The Emilian blend
Romagna's Rubicone plain
Merlot rounds the mid-palate of everyday Sangiovese blends, softening the native grape's tart edge.
Editorial
Merlot is not native to Italy. It has still become one of the most important international red grapes in the Italian cellar. Quattrocalici and the Alghero DOC consortium both place its arrival in Italy at the end of the nineteenth century. Both put it first in Friuli Venezia Giulia, then quickly through Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige. That northern start still matters. On cooler sites the grape can keep a fresher line of acidity, with cherry, plum and light herbal detail rather than simple softness.
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are half-siblings, both children of Cabernet Franc, which is why the two knit together so seamlessly in a Bolgheri blend.
Vine geneticsTuscany gives Merlot its most visible Italian stage. The Bolgheri consortium records a rule change in 2011. It allowed Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc to appear freely as single-variety wines as well as in blends. Its rules allow Merlot from zero to 100 percent in Bolgheri Rosso and Bolgheri Superiore. The local style is darker, more coastal and more structured, with ripe black fruit, balsamic notes and fine tannin. The Gambero Rosso vertical tasting of Masseto shows why Italian Merlot can sit among the prestige wines of Italy. That is especially true when blue clay, sea breeze and careful oak handling add shape rather than weight.
In the glass, Italian Merlot is usually dry, rounded and medium to full bodied. It can be easy and fruit led when raised in steel. It turns broader and longer lived when grown on clay and matured in wood. For buying and pairing in Italy, the names that matter most are Bolgheri, Cortona, Rubicone and other denominations of the centre and north.
Good to know
Yes. Merlot is a black skinned grape used for red wine. In Italy it is most visible in Bolgheri, Tuscany, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Merlot comes from Bordeaux, but it has been planted in Italy since the late nineteenth century. Italian Merlot matters most in Bolgheri, Cortona, Suvereto and northern regions such as Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Italian Merlot usually shows plum, cherry, dark fruit, soft oak spice and firm but polished tannin. Cooler northern examples can feel fresher and more herbal. Coastal Tuscany gives deeper fruit and more structure.
Italian Merlot suits Fiorentina steak, rack of lamb, Sunday roast beef and radicchio risotto. Bolgheri Rosso works with richer meat dishes. Softer Veneto Merlot can handle bitter vegetable notes.
No. Merlot is a separate grape, also from Bordeaux. It is often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in Italian denominations such as Bolgheri DOC. It usually gives rounder fruit and a softer middle palate.
Masseto is a benchmark Tuscan Merlot from Bolgheri. Its reputation shows that Merlot in Italy is not only a blending grape. It can also make a highly regarded single vineyard red wine.
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Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
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