By: Virginie Boone

For a long time, Merlot has held steady as one of the top three red wine grapes in Sonoma County, even during the rise of Pinot Noir. Today it’s dropped down to fourth, trailing Pinot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zin, with Merlot and Zin each accounting for about 4,000 acres in the region as of 2023. That makes it a still-important variety here and there are many proper Merlot bottlings well worth seeking out, a great wine with food, supple in texture with herbal complexity often unfettered by obtrusive tannin and oak.

A. Rafanelli Winery 2022 Merlot

The historic Dry Creek Valley producer so beloved for Zinfandel also makes a lovely Merlot from estate grapes, inspired by the best of Bordeaux, blending 20% Cabernet Sauvignon for a full-bodied, lushly textured wine of tremendous sophistication.

Benziger Family Winery 2021 Sunny Slope Merlot

The winery has long made Merlot, ever since its early days as Glen Ellen Winery and the days of fighting varietals, a line of wine during the 1980s labeled as varietals instead of generic. Farmed biodynamically, the wine has been made from the same vineyard in Sonoma Valley for three decades.

Ferrari-Carano Vineyards & Winery 2019 Merlot

The Dry Creek Valley winery blends Syrah and Petite Sirah into its Merlot, grown at high-elevation, giving it a long time in French oak barrels to age. It’s a classic rendition, softly textured and spicy in dried herb and clove.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery 2022 Merlot

The Sonoma Valley family winery has stuck with Merlot through thick and thin, always believing in its particular promise in cooler climes and formidable versatility, wherever it’s grown, offering lush elegance and spicy berry fruit.

Matanzas Creek Winery 2017 Jackson Park Vineyard Merlot

The Bennett Valley winery helped usher in Sonoma County’s modern Merlot era since its founding in 1977, and continues to produce not one, not two, but four Merlots, one from Bennett Valley, one from Alexander Valley, this vineyard designate from Jackson Park Vineyard, and even one from the Keyes Vineyard on Howell Mountain. Jackson Park was planted in 1984 to 90 acres of the Petrus clone of Merlot, also known as clone 181.

Medlock Ames Winery 2020 Yarrow Merlot

From grapes grown at the producer’s Bell Mountain Ranch estate where after the 2019 Kincade Fire destroyed much of the acreage, yarrow, a type of native wildflower, began to bloom. The wine was named for this symbol of nature’s resilience and ability to bounce back, something we should all aspire to. Both clone 181 and the Jefferson clone of Merlot grow here.

Pedroncelli Winery 2022 East Side Vineyard Merlot

Another Dry Creek Valley Merlot of beauty and balance, the family’s East Side Vineyard is a mile west from the winery on the benchlands of the appellation. The Merlot off the estate is smoothly textured and lush, with sumptuous black fruit.

Robert Young Estate Winery 2021 Estate Merlot

The Alexander Valley family winery is so well-known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay one might forget they do other wines, too, like this estate Merlot. Sourced from hillside vines in Meek’s Block, the name of Robert Young’s uncle who helped save the ranch during the Depression, only 22 barrels of this 100% Merlot were produced, an exemplar of balanced winemaking.

Rodney Strong Vineyards 2022 Merlot

The Healdsburg-based winery sources from across Sonoma County to make this wonderfully value-minded Merlot, honoring its heritage as one of the first to plant the variety in the Alexander Valley in the 1970s. It overdelivers on its $25 price point, lush and generous in dark fruit and French oak spiciness.

Serres Ranch Wine 2021 Buchanan Merlot

With 12% Malbec, this Sonoma Valley Merlot is named for Buchanan (Buck) Serres, a member of the family’s sixth generation, who have been farming in Sonoma County since 1924.

St. Francis Winery & Vineyards 2021 Behler Vineyard Merlot

The Sonoma Valley-based winery is another longtime proponent of Merlot, making three different bottlings every year. This one comes from its well-known estate, its first, the legacy of founder Joe Martin, the first to plant Merlot in the area in the 1970s.

Sutro Wine Company 2021 Merlot

This small family producer on Chalk Hill Road in Alexander Valley sources from its own Warnecke Ranch and Vineyard to make this wine, blending just a handful of Malbec into the mix, coaxing lovely aromatics and subtle herbal earthiness from the Merlot.