Editing Merlot (section)

== History and name ==
[[File:Winged cluster of Merlot.JPG|left|thumb|A main cluster and an attached "wing cluster" of Merlot grapes with its characteristic dark-blue color]]
The earliest recorded mention of Merlot (under the synonym of ''Merlau'') was in the notes of a local [[Bordeaux]] official who in 1784 labeled wine made from the grape in the [[Libournais]] region as one of the area's best. In 1824, the word ''Merlot'' itself appeared in an article on [[Médoc wine]] which mentioned that the grape was named after the local [[Common blackbird|black bird]] (called {{lang|oc|merlau}} in the local variant of [[Occitan language]], {{lang|fr|merle}} in standard French) who liked eating the ripe grapes on the vine. Other descriptions of the grape from the 19th century called the variety ''lou seme doù flube'' (meaning "the seedling from the river") with the grape thought to have originated on one of the islands found along the [[Garonne]] river.<ref name="Wine Grapes"/>

By the 19th century it was being regularly planted in the [[Médoc]] on the "Left Bank" of the [[Gironde]].<ref name="Clarke pg 129-133">Clarke, Oz (2001). ''Encyclopedia of Grapes'', pp. 129–133. Harcourt Books. {{ISBN|0-15-100714-4}}</ref> After a series of setbacks that included a severe frost in 1956 and several vintages in the 1960s lost to rot, French authorities in Bordeaux banned new plantings of Merlot vines between 1970 and 1975.<ref name="Robinson pg 91-94">Robinson, J. (1986). ''Vines, Grapes & Wines'', pp. 91–94. Mitchell Beazley. {{ISBN|1-85732-999-6}}</ref>

It was first recorded in Italy around [[Venice]] under the synonym ''Bordò'' in 1855. The grape was introduced to the [[Swiss people|Swiss]], from Bordeaux, sometime in the 19th century and was recorded in the Swiss [[Canton (country subdivision)|canton]] of [[Ticino]] between 1905 and 1910.<ref name="Clarke pg 129-133"/> In the 1990s, Merlot saw an upswing of popularity in the [[United States]]. Red wine consumption, in general, increased in the US following the airing of the ''[[60 Minutes]]'' report on the [[French Paradox]] and the potential [[Health effects of wine|health benefits of wine]] and, possibly, the chemical [[resveratrol]]. The popularity of Merlot stemmed in part from the relative ease in pronouncing the name{{clarify|date=September 2017}} of the wine as well as its softer, fruity profile that made it more approachable to some wine drinkers.<ref name="Goldstein pg 148-152">E. Goldstein ''"Perfect Pairings"'' pg 148–152 University of California Press 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-520-24377-4}}</ref>

=== Parentage and relationship to other grapes ===
[[File:Cabernet Franc.JPG|right|thumb|Cabernet Franc, one of the parent varieties of Merlot.]]
In the late 1990s, researchers at the [[University of California, Davis]], showed that Merlot is an offspring of [[Cabernet Franc]] and is a half-sibling of [[Carménère]], [[Malbec]], and Cabernet Sauvignon.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Parentage of Merlot and related winegrape cultivars of southwestern France: discovery of the missing link|author1=J-M. Boursiquot|author2=T. Lacombe|author3=V. Laucou|author4=S. Julliard|author5=F-X. Perrin|author6=N. Lanier|author7=D. Legrand|author8=C. Meredith|author9=P. This|journal=Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research|volume=15|issue=2|pages=144–155|year=2009|doi=10.1111/j.1755-0238.2008.00041.x|doi-access=free}}</ref> The identity of the second parent of Merlot wouldn't be discovered till the late 2000s when an obscure and unnamed variety, first sampled in 1996 from vines growing in an abandoned vineyard in [[Saint-Suliac]] in [[Brittany]], was shown by DNA analysis to be the mother of Merlot.<ref name="Wine Grapes"/>

This grape, later discovered in front of houses as a decorative vine in the villages of [[Figers]], [[Mainxe]], [[Saint-Savinien]], and [[Tanzac]] in the [[Poitou-Charentes]], was colloquially known as ''Madeleina'' or ''Raisin de La Madeleine'' due to its propensity to be fully ripe and ready for [[harvest (wine)|harvest]] around the July 22nd [[feast day]] of [[Mary Magdalene]]. As the connection to Merlot became known, the grape was formally registered under the name [[Magdeleine Noire des Charentes]]. Through its relationship with Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, Merlot is related to the [[Southwest France wine]] grape [[Abouriou]], though the exact nature of that relationship (with Abouriou potentially being either a parent of Magdeleine Noire or an offspring) is not yet known.<ref name="Wine Grapes"/>

[[Grape breeder]]s have used Merlot [[crossed (wine)|crossed]] with other grapes to create several new varieties including [[Carmine (grape)|Carmine]] (an [[Olmo grape]] made by crossing a [[Carignan]] x Cabernet Sauvignon cross with Merlot), [[Ederena]] (with Abouriou), [[Evmolpia]] (with [[Mavrud]]), [[Fertilia (grape)|Fertilia]] (with [[Raboso Veronese]]), [[Mamaia (grape)|Mamaia]] (a [[Romanian wine]] grape made by crossing a [[Muscat Ottonel]] x [[Babeasca negra]] cross with Merlot), [[Nigra (grape)|Nigra]] (with [[Barbera]]), [[Prodest]] (with Barbera), and [[Rebo (grape)|Rebo]] (with [[Teroldego]]).<ref name="Wine Grapes"/>

Over the years, Merlot has spawned a [[color mutation]] that is used commercially, a pink-skinned variety known as ''Merlot gris''. However, unlike the relationship between [[Grenache noir]] and [[Grenache blanc]] or [[Pinot noir]] and [[Pinot blanc]], the variety known as [[Merlot blanc]] is not a color mutation but rather an offspring variety of Merlot crossing with [[Folle blanche]].<ref name="Wine Grapes"/>