As a wine writer, I read extensively what my colleagues around the world publish on a daily basis. This (admittedly rather obsessive) consumption of wine media allows me to observe coverage trends as they rise and fall. Some are quite predictable. Others, more surprising. Lately, I’ve been scratching my head over the increase in stories along the lines of ‘Merlot is back, baby’.

Really? I couldn’t tell you the last time I deliberately drank a bottle of California Merlot, nor the last time I saw one featured prominently on a wine list in the restaurants I normally dine at.

So, this past month I decided to head up to Napa and taste as much Merlot as I could manage, and try to find out what’s up with the grape – at least in one of the many places it grows in California.

The movie myth

Contrary to popular belief, the movie Sideways didn’t kill California Merlot. It may well have shifted some consumer perceptions, but those didn’t immediately translate into significant changes for the industry. In fact, Merlot plantings across California actually continued to increase for a year or two following the release of the movie in 2004 (see chart below).

Rather, for the last 25 years or so, Merlot seems to have been inexorably inching its way back towards the obscurity from which it emerged in the 1970s. This slow decline seems to be less a victim of reactionary consumer abandonment and more a casualty of the robust growth in both Cabernet Sauvignon and, to a lesser extent, Pinot Noir plantings (both trends that began before Sideways).

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Image of the famed Three Palms Vineyard by Wildly Simple Productions, courtesy of Duckhorn Vineyards.