Benchmarking Australian Merlot – Playing on the Same Field as the French

Two inescapable conclusions loomed large after two excellent international merlot tastings staged recently by two different Australian wineries. Firstly, the overwhelming volume of world-class merlot is definitely French. Secondly, if Australia wants to compete against these wines, it should try doing so without having both its hands tied behind its back.

Merlot, many people are saying, is a bit like pinot noir. Wrong. You’d never blend another grape variety with quality pinot noir in a fit, but to make truly world-class red wine exclusively from merlot is no mean feat. The French understood this years ago, which is why you’ll hardly find a top-class estate in Pomerol, St-Emilion or Fronsac that doesn’t blend cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon or both to its merlot. Even Chateau Petrus uses 5 cabernet sauvignon and believe me, it helps.

Why then of the serious Australian efforts to make a merlot-dominant red, are only Henschke’s Abbott’s Prayer and Mountadam’s The Red blended with smaller volumes of the cabernet varieties? Perhaps too many Australian winemakers are seduced by the opulent textures and vibrant flavours of young new oak-matured merlot, to the extent that not many of them are thinking about what will happen after some time has passed in the bottle.

What does happen with too many expensive Australian merlots is that once the seductive primary qualities of their fruit have moved on, there’s little else other than oak or extract to take their place. In reality these were never top-class young wines, for they never had enough structural complexity in their youth to stand even a modest test of time. Expensive lessons, perhaps, especially for those who pay good money for these wines not to mention those who write about them, but with merlot we’re still in the flat part of the learning curve.

Made as recently as 1998, many of the highly-rated Australian merlots represented in these tastings would have been in far better shape today had they incorporated even just ten percent cabernet sauvignon. Levelling out the playing field to some significant extent would be that easy.

The Benchmarks

The wineries responsible for the two merlot tastings this year were Xanadu, a new aspirant in the Australian merlot stakes, plus one of our better-qualified entries in Pepper Tree, for whom 2001 represented the fifth staging of its Merlot Masters tasting. Both tastings featured the 1998 vintage from both north and south hemispheres and there was just a small degree of doubling up between the two. Fortunately, where duplications occurred, my scores were sufficiently close to enable me to discuss the two events simultaneously.

Of course there are different but equally valid expressions of merlot. Like pinot noir, but to a substantially lesser extent, merlot will reflect the terroir of its origins, provided it is cropped sufficiently low for the terroir to be able to express itself. By and large, overcropping wasn’t an issue in these tastings.

The best French wines of the tastings were Chateau La Fleur Petrus 80 merlot, 19.2, Chateau Petrus 95 merlot, 18.9, Chateau Pavie Decesse 25 merlot, 18.7, Chateau Angelus 50 merlot, 18.5, Chateau Cheval Blanc 50 merlot this vintage, 18.2 and Chateau de Valandraud 80 merlot, 18.2. Good wines all, and I was clearly marking very hard. With the exception of the Petrus, the highest merlot content of any of these wines was 80.

The Delta Factor in Merlot

What was it about these wines that stood them above any Australian or American entrant? The fineness, suppleness and length of pure black cherry fruit, the perfectly handled oak and the tightness and fineness of the La Fleur Petrus’ lingering and savoury finish. The ethereal fragrance of the obviously Parkerised in-barrel malolactic fermented Chateau Petrus, its marriage of ripe cherry/blackberry fruit with creamy fine-grained oak and bony tannins. The vitality, length and balance of the Pavie Decesse and the integrity of its firm, drying tannin. The entrancing smallgoods, tobaccoey and small berry complexity of the sumptuous, yet refined and beautifully textured Chateau Angelus. The musky, smoky aromas yet rather subdued fruit of the very long and rather tannic, deep and brooding Chateau Cheval Blanc, and the meaty, almost wild and floral qualities expressed by the pure cherry/red plum fruit of the Chateau de Valandraud, plus its smooth, succulent texture and stony tannins.

Perhaps herein lies the secret of quality merlot. The consistent hallmarks of these wines were their delivery of fragrant, crystal-clear dark cherry fruit qualities, the fineness and firmness of their extract, the ability of the better vineyard sites to produce genuine complexity as opposed to winemaker-derived complexity, and the freshness and integration of their oak treatment. Several of the premier wines showed obvious mocha/chocolate cask malolactic character, which is okay provided it doesn’t dominate the wine. The extent of Robert Parker’s influence on Pomerol and St-Emilion is simply staggering.

Some wines were fine and silky, others firm and robust. None were overly aggressive, although the Cheval Blanc is no shrinking violet. All these wines however presented quality drying, tight tannins. There was nothing sappy or greenish in sight.

Across the Pacific Sea

The American term for the ‘Bordeaux blend’ is ‘Meritage’, and it will be interesting to watch the progress of the increasing number of merlot-dominated versions of these blends. For the time being at least, the straight varietal merlots still capture more image and price. While the Napa Valley has developed a well-deserved name for its occasionally ethereal, silky-smooth merlots, especially from its nearby mountain vineyards, it is to Washington State and its finer, yet more accentuated delivery of dark fruit flavour that American heads are turning for merlot. Wines like the Northstar Merlot 1998 from Chateau St-Michelle and Andrew Will’s Ciel du Cheval Merlot the 1998 vintage did not look as nearly as good at the Xanadu tasting as the bottle I opened in March this year suggest that the Pacific Northwest could yet become the epicentre of merlot attention in the US.

The US, which has been focusing on premium merlot for at least two decades, was represented by Duckhorn 18.1, drink 2003-2006+, Pahlmeyer 18.0, drink 2003-2006+, Raymond Reserve 17.8, drink 2006-2010, Gary Farrel 17.0, drink 2006-2010, Arrowood 16.5, drink 2003-2006, Lewis Cellars 16.5, drink 2003-2006, Matanzas Creek 16.5, drink 2003-2006+ and Selene 16.0, drink 2003-2006.

There’s much to enjoy in the wild, briary and smoky character of the Duckhorn; its penetrative fruit, silky tannins and balanced oak, but it is fractionally over-worked. The Pahlmeyer is a fine modern US style, with clearly presented if slightly confected fruit, spicy fragrances and a deliciously succulent, fine-grained palate. Its delicate but brightly flavoured small berry fruit, powder-dry tannins and assertive oak stamp the Raymond Reserve a powerful cellar style, while the Gary Farrel presents vibrant, translucent berry and almost tropical fruit with a stylish, fleshy and savoury if marginally short, palate. From a highly rated maker, the Selene was rather cooked and raw, confection-like and medicinal; a major disappointment.

Keeping the Locals Honest

The most significant surprise of either of the tastings was an astonishing merlot from under-rated New Zealand maker Villa Maria. Rated at 18.9 drink 2006-2010, it’s perfumed and smoky, delivering pure, intense dark fruit aromas, before a supple, smooth and lightly gamey palate bursting with pristine cherry flavour, and punctuated by hints of tobacco and fine tannin. It also includes 6 malbec. Hmm!

Another surprise came from the Italian-influenced Ticino region of southern Switzerland. The Vinattieri Ticino 1998 18.0, drink 2006-2010 is a classy, tightly focused merlot whose complex, earthy and meaty aromas border on the feral, but quickly clean up to reveal a wine of unexpected elegance and strength. It’s of a standard comparable to some better super-Tuscans, and shares some of the length of tight-knit astringency typical of these wines.

A new-wave Italian merlot, the Tua Rita Redigaffi 17.9, drink 2007-2011 from the 1999 Tuscan vintage stood out not only for its comparative youth, but because it was clearly made with the intention of impressing Robert Parker, something it has successfully managed to do. Impressively ripe, dark and concentrated in its brandied cherry/plum fruit, it’s handsomely endowed with chocolatey oak and packed with exaggerated astringent tannins. It is certainly a formula-made wine, but has a lot more going for it than a number of Australian reds manufactured with the intent of attracting the same critic. Far superior for mine was a Tuscan merlot I tasted a year ago, the Palazzi 1998, whose dark, briary fruit is perfectly offset by its superb oak and tannin.

The Local Perspective

The best-performed Australian wines were the Parker Coonawarra Estate 18.2, drink 2006-2010 and the Evans & Tate Margaret River Merlot 17.5, drink 2006-2010. The Parker was typically sumptuous and fleshy, and its tannins were long and silky-smooth. Its dark cherry/cassis fruit and smoky mocha oak were no less contemporary than the Petrus, while it lacked the complexity of the Angelus. A good wine nevertheless, and not in the least overawed by the company. More obviously a New World wine, the Evans & Tate reveals punchier, more assertive oak and despite its depth and richness of varietal fruit, some slightly raw edges. Not quite there, but certainly offering some great fruit.

Of the other Australians, the Clarendon Hills 16.8, drink 2006-2010 tended towards the cooked and sweaty, minty and stalky, the Petaluma 16.5, drink 2006-2010 was very surprisingly raw, minty and sappy, the Brookland Valley 15.0, drink 2000-2003 sappy, flat and minty, the Xanadu 15.0, drink 2000-2003 hot, raw and reductive, the James Irvine Grand Merlot 15.0, drink 2000-2003 porty, over-oaked and syrupy, the Henschke Abbot’s Prayer surprisingly hard-edged and drying out perhaps a random oxidation issue given my previous experience with the wine and the Ribbon Vale 14.0, drink 2000-2003 tough, unyielding and tomatoey.

Australian winemakers still have much to learn about merlot. It does not respond well to over-ripeness. It dries out excessively and loses freshness with too much oak influence. It doesn’t respond well to the ‘hands free’ approach so popular amongst young winemakers today as they attempt to build complexity in the winery, and it has to be physiologically ripe. And again, it might be better off if blended.

In these early days for Australian merlot it’s essential that more makers look over the fence to see what the rest of the world, particularly France, is doing with the grape. I’m perfectly convinced that the head-in-the-sand view adopted by so many Australian would-be makers of pinot noir has thoroughly retarded the development of this wine in Australia, for the costly lessons they are only learning after more than a decade of failure could largely have been bypassed.

It takes a measure of risk and guts to put your early efforts with any grape variety up against the best in the world, but there is no doubt that such an approach fast-tracks a company’s development. Chris Cameron’s steadily improving efforts for the Parker and Pepper Tree labels reflect this view in no small measure.

As it stands, we are still looking for an Australian merlot to make a consistent quality statement. It may take time, it may occur in a region not presently planted to it, and it may not occur with a straight varietal wine. But I can say with absolute certainty that the person who does it first will have previously tasted and understood a significant amount of merlot from France, the US and Italy. Please login to post comment