A SOUTH AFRICAN wine producer got in touch to voice his discontent regarding the critics, the show judges, locally and internationally… How is it possible that Merlot makes such a high percentage of the red wine bought in this country yet there are not many brands that qualify for the SA Wine Classification. The producer preferred not to be quoted… Shortly afterwards, one of the Cape’s wine critics, Christian Eedes of Winemag, was asked during a podcast interview whether SA Merlot is worthy of fine wine discussion. His answer was that with a few exceptions, most of the single-varietal examples are made for supermarket consumers. So drinkable but very little that is very special, not many commanding over R150 a bottle, with much of the good stuff going into blends.

Red wine accounts for 46% of wine sales through supermarkets in South Africa, and of this, Merlot accounts for 16% – ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage by a couple of percentage points, 4% more than Shiraz, with red blends representing some 39%. If you look at the Top 100 SA wines on the basis of best panel ratings over the past 10 years, there is only one Merlot among them, versus 11 Cabs, nine wines made from Pinotage and seven from Shiraz, with a dozen being red blends of various sorts and/but including six Bordeaux-style combinations that typically involve Merlot.

‘Hallo Merlot‘ is a South African Merlot forum, an association of people and businesses aiming to improve the image and quality of wines made from this grape. Among the members are some 37 wine producers – including six of the 10 represented in the SA Classification. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time before 10 or 20 more get it right on a consistent basis going forward. Although, there are those who feel that if Merlot is selling so well relative to other varieties then it already deserves more respect from the geeks, more good reviews by the critics and panels of experts. Comment welcome. Meanwhile, here are some of the beauties that impressed the panels big time in 2021:

» Eagles’ Nest Merlot 2016
» Groot Constantia Merlot 2018
» Holden Manz Merlot Reserve 2018
» Jordan Black Magic Merlot 2018
» Remhoogte Aspect Merlot 2016
» Shannon Black 2017

And at under R150 a bottle, the following got the nod:

» Glenelly Glass Collection Merlot 2018
» Goudini Merlot 2019
» Jason’s Hill Merlot 2018
» Mischa La Famille Merlot 2019
» Mountain Ridge Merlot 2018
» Stellenbosch Hills Merlot 2018

For more details and more recommendations, see all the top SA Merlot ratings over the past year.