The name appears in Libournais records as "merlau" in 1784 — the little blackbird's grape, said to be the bird's favourite. A natural cross of Cabernet Franc and the obscure Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, Merlot ripens early, yields generously and drapes the palate in soft, plummy fruit — everything the cold clays of the right bank ask of a grape.
Its ascent is recent and total. A supporting variety through the nineteenth century, it inherited the ground lost by Malbec after the 1956 frost and never gave it back: Merlot is today the most planted grape of Bordeaux by far, the flesh of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol and of right-bank estates such as Château de Brague, and the quiet majority partner in many a Médoc blend.