{"id":10064,"date":"2021-11-05T18:12:39","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T22:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/?p=10064"},"modified":"2024-08-25T20:35:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T00:35:38","slug":"in-the-wine-light-international-merlot-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/in-the-wine-light-international-merlot-day\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Wine Light \u2013 International Merlot Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Merlot

Merlot Growing at Laurel Gray Vineyards
Photo provided by Kim Myers, Co-Owner, Laurel Gray Vineyards<\/p><\/div>\n

In the Wine Light<\/a> is International Merlot Day<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span>This wine holiday is celebrated annually on November 7th<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Merlot is one of the most widely planted and noble wine grapes in all the world.<\/span>\u00a0 It typically is one of first red\u00a0grapes to bud break, so it sometimes has issues with the late spring frosts we see here in North Carolina.\u00a0 Due to the\u00a0earlier\u00a0bud break, it\u2019s often one of the first red grapes to be harvested.<\/p>\n

Merlot hails from Bordeaux and is an offspring of Cabernet Franc making it a sibling to Cabernet Sauvignon, Carm\u00e9n\u00e8re, and Malbec. \u00a0It wasn’t until around 2009 that Merlot’s other parent was discovered via DNA testing. \u00a0This obscure variety, Merlot’s mother, is formally known as\u00a0Magdeleine Noire des Charentes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sales of Merlot increased in the 1990s along with other red wines following the airing of the 60 Minutes segment on the French Paradox<\/a>. \u00a0Then sales fell nearly 2% following the release of the 2004 movie Sideways<\/a> which unfairly degraded Merlot. \u00a0Merlot has since made a comeback.<\/p>\n

\"Baby

Even babies love merlot! This is Baby Jack with merlot from Laurel Gray Vineyards in 2007. These grapes made a 100% estate wine that later won Best in Show at the NC State Fair Wine Competition.
Photo provided by Kim Myers, Co-Owner, Laurel Gray Vineyards<\/p><\/div>\n

Merlots are often known for being full bodied with medium tannins.\u00a0 Classic flavors are black\u00a0cherry, raspberry, and plum.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many delightful Merlots in the state.\u00a0 <\/span>Just a few of our favorite include (but not limited to) Merlots from Jones von Drehle Vineyards and Winery<\/a>, Laurel Gray Vineyards<\/a>, South Creek Vineyards and Winery<\/a>, and McRitchie Winery & Ciderworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you like about Merlot?\u00a0 <\/span>How are celebrating this iconic variety?<\/p>\n

#MerlotDay #InTheWineLight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[326],"tags":[102,336,337],"class_list":["post-10064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-wine-light","tag-merlot","tag-merlot-day","tag-wine-holiday","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10064"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10075,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10064\/revisions\/10075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}