Pinot Noir Vs. Merlot: What's The Difference?

Are merlot and pinot noir different?  Well, is an eggplant different from elephant?  Do merlot and pinot noir taste different?  Does broccoli taste a hamburger?  It’s easy to be glib, but let’s dive into why merlot and pinot noir are different.

Let’s Look At The Facts First…

Both merlot and pinot noir are wine grapes, of the Vitis Vinifera genus & species. But merlot and pinot noir are different cultivars, plants produced by specific and selective breeding.

In the most ancient of olden days, grapevines were domesticated, crossed, and bred to express certain, favorable characteristics. Cultivars were cultivated in tandem with colonization, for example when Greek colonists, then Roman settlers, brought grapevines to France (Jackson). 

Clearly, at some point in early ag history, wild vines were domesticated. But the origin of most cultivars remains unclear. Even with DNA sequencing, researchers cannot identify a “simple or common denominator to the origin of existing cultivars” (Jackson). 

Some wine grape cultivars arose from wild vines, while others were bred from imported vines, crossed either intentionally or accidentally. Many were transported and transplanted into regions without any evidence of indigenous Vitis Viniferia. 

Merlot is a cultivar of known parents (Cabernet franc x Magdeline Noire des Charentes). Whether these two grapes were crossed intentionally or by accident is unknown. 

Pinot Noir is considered a cross between Traminer & Meunier. OK, but most researchers consider Meunier just another clonal variant of pinot noir.  Confusing, huh. 

So where are we today?  Merlot is a wine grape traditionally associated with Bordeaux while pinot noir is the most famous red grape of Burgundy. Merlot can showcase the same blackcurrant/black fruit aromatics as cabernet sauvignon, but with softer tannins. In contrast, pinot noir is often associated with cherries and red fruits, but not always. And for the record, pinot noir is proportionally high in malic acid whereas merlot is inherently higher in tartaric acid.

So yeah, pinot noir and merlot taste different.

Let’s Talk About the Sweet Factor

Let’s tackle and put to bed this question of “sweet” once and for all. Any wine, of any “cultivar,” from any country, whether red or white, can be made sweet if yeast do not consume all the grape sugars during fermentation. Ripe grapes are full of glucose and fructose. 

This is true for both merlot and pinot noir. When yeast consume this sugar, they produce ethanol (wine).  This is fermentation. When sugar is left over at the end of the fermentation process, the wine tastes sweet.  This can be intentional, like in a dessert wine or a winemaker’s choice to leave sugar behind to balance high acid or bitterness. 

But most table wines, meaning the kind of wine meant to be shared with friends and enjoyed with meals, are not sweet. There is no leftover sugar; grape sugars are entirely consumed during fermentation.  Neither pinot noir nor merlot are considered “sweet” wines. If you are seeking out a wine that tastes “sweet,” look for a dessert wine or a late harvest wine. These wines are sweet by design.  Pinot noir and merlot are not.

Merlot and pinot noir are often described as having specific varietal aromas & flavors, like merlot tasting like black cherry or plum compared to pinot noir tasting like Bing cherry. These traditional adjectives can be useful but also give consumers the false idea that merlot or pinot noir is a flavor monolith.

Broadly speaking, merlot is fuller bodied than pinot noir and is characterized by a soft, velvety finish. Pinot noir is a lighter bodied wine with more vibrant acidity. Merlot is often associated with fruits like black raspberry, black cherry, boysenberry. 

Pinot noir is often associated with fruits like red cherries, cranberries, or even strawberries.  Pinot noir can also be floral (violets) or spicy (star anise, warm baking spices).  Of course, these are generalizations, since I’m here to tell you that “it depends.”

What’s the best way to learn the difference?

The best way to learn about merlot is to buy, uncork, and taste bottlings from different regions and different producers. Likewise, the best way to discover your favorite style of pinot noir is to taste many options. 

Merlot grown in Pomerol, France tastes different than the same grape grown in Napa, California. Pinot noir grown in Beaune, France tastes different than pinot noir grown in the Willamette Valley, Oregon or in Sonoma County, California. 

Wind, sunshine, soil, climate, diurnal temperature changes, and heat summation affect grape flavor profoundly.  Wine grapes taste like where they’re grown. This is especially true for pinot noir (yes, I’m biased). Pinot noir can be fruit forward with loads of raspberry or earthy with mushroom-y notes or spicy with clove and star anise. Some pinot noirs are lightly hued and kissed with color while others are more deeply extracted shades of garnet. Pinot noir is generally lighter bodied with higher acid than merlot. Pinot sits squarely in the red fruit spectrum. Merlot straddled red and black fruits. 

Furthermore, merlot is fuller bodied than pinot and displays a soft texture, with more black fruit qualities.  But as always, it depends. There is no single flavor or aroma that is always and only found in merlot as compared to pinot noir. Their varietal character is a complex marriage of aromatics, flavor, body, wine matrix, tannin profiles, acidity, and a certain “X” factor we call “terroir.” 

Luckily, both merlot and pinot noir are versatile and pair well with many foods. There is no single rule to pair either merlot or pinot noir with the right foods.  Cook, uncork, taste and experiment. 

Both pinot noir and merlot are aged in oak barrels. And as you can imagine, oak barrels hold major influence in the way a finished wine tastes and smells. The percentage of new oak impacts the finished wine, with more oak adding more secondary notes like spice, vanilla, clove, coconut, sandalwood, and even cigar box. 

Playing with oak barrels is like having access to a complex and nuanced spice rack. This is one reason for the overlap in the adjectives used to describe merlot and pinot noir. If you were to taste a merlot and pinot noir blind, in a black glasses, without knowing color, opacity or intensity of hue, could you distinguish one from the other? 

Sure, there are certain benchmark wines that are meant to teach wine students the traditional characteristics of a classic merlot or a classic pinot noir. But distinguishing wines blindly can be tricky. 

I make pinot noir for a living, and even I have been bamboozled. I once participated in a blind tasting seminar designed to train sommeliers for the blind tasting portion of the MS sommelier exam. After being utterly humiliated and flummoxed by a series of unpronounceable white wines from esoteric places, I finally identified my first wine. 

The wine was red, light to medium bodied with red cherry, cola, floral potpourri and comforting warm baking spices like clove and mace. I was CERTAIN that I was tasting a Russian River Valley pinot noir. I live in the Russian River Valley. I grow Russian River Valley pinot noir. I make Russian River Valley pinot noir. I drink loads of Russian River Valley pinot noir. 

I know this wine. 

Sure enough, I correctly identified pinot noir…but from Oregon! 

This particular Oregon winemaker crafts a more extracted, lush style of pinot that leans more Cali than OR (which can be higher acidity, earthier, coming from a cooler, wetter climate than CA). So, there you go! No single word or phrase can help you distinguish pinot noir from merlot. 

But if you’re looking for a soft, medium bodied and fruity wine, try merlot. 

If you enjoy a more delicate wine with vibrant acidity and red fruit notes married to earthier, savory flavors, uncork a pinot.  Neither will disappoint.

Ready to taste some pinot noir for yourself?

Come visit us in Sonoma County for a tasting. Or, book a virtual tasting and get Bruliam Wines shipped straight to your door as part of an unforgettable experience.