SEATTLE: For some reason, Merlot has lost its way with many wine lovers. Washington and California wineries are working to change that. Cabernet Sauvignon continues its soaring success as the biggest money-making red varietal in the world. However, it’s brother, Merlot, is equally as amazing but for different reasons. While American Cabernet Sauvignon wines present a great deal of red fruits like raspberries, cherries, strawberry, and pomegranate. Merlot typically has dark fruit notes like blackberry, marionberry, plums, and blueberries.

Left bank Bordeaux (vineyards to the south of the Garonne and Gironde rivers) are Cabernet Sauvignon dominate while the right bank (vineyards to the north of the Dordogne and Gironde Rivers) are Merlot dominant. However, you’ll still find a splash of one or the other in nearly all Bordeaux wines which feature nuances of both grapes.

For this round-up, we went with American wine producers and are confident you’ll fall in love with at least one, if not all of them. Washington State wineries do dominate our list in that, over the past 20 years, have been emerging as a world-classMerlot producing region.>>>Read the entire article featuring Chateau Ste Michelle, Long Shadows, Mark Ryan, Pepper Bridge and more on CDN