“Will Gen Z save Merlot?”

Once again, the grim reaper is chasing merlot

Merlot, as a varietal wine, has been in its death throes for what seems like decades. I even asked, in 2016: “why does it look like merlot may be on its way out as a varietal?”

And merlot’s predicament has only become worse since then. I wrote a freelance piece last year that looked at the reasons for the decline, focusing on producers who still treat the grape with respect. The consensus? Merlot’s heyday as a varietal wine is long gone for a variety of reasons, none of which have to do with a certain movie that is not mentioned on the blog.

Now, there’s more evidence, from the Wine Opinions consultancy in its September newsletter. It asked its panel of wine drinkers how often they bought certain wines, and merlot was the big loser. It posted a 12 percent decline in “net purchase frequency,” the biggest drop of any varietal in the survey. The only consumers who showed an uptick were those under 40, who bought 2 percent more merlot. Hence, the Gen Z headline, courtesy of Wine Opinions’ John Gillespie.

The decline came at the expense of cabernet sauvignon and red blends, and anyone looking for a reason for the demise of merlot as a varietal need look no further than red blends. Merlot was always the fruity, less difficult, and less expensive red wine option, and the blends – sweet even — have replaced it for people who don’t want to drink cabernet. It’s probably not a coincidence that pinot noir, which is now commonly made as a soft red and not as traditional pinot noir, was the other big winner among survey respondents after red blends.

The irony about all of this? That the amount of merlot harvested in California has remained remarkably consistent over the past decade or so, which doesn’t make sense given its declining popularity. But that’s because merlot is going into the red blends and pinot noir – being used a the blending grape it has always been used as in Europe. The more things change, right?