In just a few short decades, the Taylor family have etched out a formidable reputation for producing high quality wine from their Clare Valley vineyards. This textbook Merlot captures the varietal characters of berries, fruitcake and velvety tannins. The judicious use of French and American oak adds mocha and vanilla softens and rounds the palate.

This limited release Merlot is produced from a 5 star Halliday rated winery, Parker Coonawarra Estate. The wine reflect the stylistic approach to creating beautiful wines from the rich terra rossa soils of the Coonawarra region. The Merlot combines dark cherries and plums, dusted with a hint of tobacco. This wine is savoury and lush with persistence and a fine, silky finish.

Leconfield Merlot has big and juicy dark fruits, soft tannins all supported by lovely French oak. Paul Gordon continues to produce a serious Merlot for a great price, year in, year out. His Merlot is also one that will benefit from a little sit in the medium term cellar.

The gravelly soils and sunny climate of Hawkes Bay are producing some of New Zealand's most exciting reds. This classy Merlot from Oyster Bay shows soft spicy varietal flavours such as, juicy plums and ripe dark fruits. Accompanied by well intergraded oak and subtle tannins, making this wine one of the easier matching to food.

The deep and bright plum colour of Sevenhill Inigo Merlot is owed to pampered care, patience and grooming given to this Clare Valley varietal. The captivating bouquet of this delicious wine exudes fragrances of plums and ripe raspberries. The medium-bodied palate is juicy, with a subtle mouthfeel of tannins. The finish is long, marked by flavours of spice and fruitcake on maturation. The wine can be enjoyed young with dishes like Beef Rendang, or beef and olive empanadas.

Soft rounded and fruit-driven this is a good example of the approachable easy drinking Merlot variety. Generous plummy flavour with just a touch of oak and light tannins make this wine enjoyable now.</p>

Tempus Two Merlot is deliciously ripe, lovely flavours of mulberry fruit with some earthiness and spice. Soft tannins complement the finish.

A fresh contemporary style of Merlot from Jacob's Creek produces a luscious medium bodied wine that has ripe plum and berry fruit flavours in harmony with soft grape and oak tannins giving length and texture.

While almost all Australian Merlot in the bottle is made from one clone, now Australia has better French clones of Merlot. This wine is made from one of them (Q45) by Australias new clone Merlot pioneers. MÉRITEs 2016 Q Merlot is made to showcase the attributes of this new clone: its a bold wine with intense fruit flavours, bright natural acidity and fine tannins