Merlot is associated with Bordeaux, France, though the atlas carries no confirmed pedigree for it. California's bearing acreage has declined by about a quarter since 2000, from 42,072 to 30,230 acres in 2025, still spread across 47 counties. San Joaquin, Napa, and Sonoma are its leading counties. It ripens earlier and produces softer tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon, and is grown in California both as a stand-alone varietal wine and as the softening component in Bordeaux-style red blends.
What kind of grape this is
- Approved on a US label
- Merlot
- FPS selections
- 31
the names TTB permits on a bottle
distinct clones and selections held at UC Davis
Registries
What is published
Counts describe what this atlas holds for Merlot, not what California grows. A zero is a published answer: it means the source names the grape and reports nothing under it, or does not name it at all.
- 1,165
county-years of acreage
47 counties, 30,230 bearing acres in 2025
- 442
district-years of crush
17 of 17 crush districts, 26 crop years
- 442
district-years of Brix
tonnage-weighted at the crusher, Crush Report Table 3
- 105
producers in this atlas
producers whose curated wine list names it — a curated roster of 2,772 producers, not a census of California
- —
regions with a maturity date
not one of the eight cultivars with a
Acreage in California
loading acreage…
Counties and concentration
loading concentration…
Where it is planted
Reported by county — never by AVA
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Share of each county's vineyard
Reported by county — never by AVA
loading county shares…
The counties
Reported by county — never by AVA
loading counties…
Tonnage and price by district
Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA
All 17 districts on one axis →
loading crush report…
Brix at the crusher
Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA
loading must chemistry…
Growers in this atlas's roster
- Alexander Valley Vineyardsbottled
Winery · CYRUS, Cabernet Sauvignon, Homestead Red Blend and 1 more
- Alpha Omegabottled
Winery · Era, Proprietary Red Atlas Peak, Right Bank and 1 more
- Beaulieu Vineyardbottled
Winery · Reserve Beautour Napa Valley Red, Reserve Napa Valley Merlot, Tapestry Reserve Red Wine
- Bel Vinobottled
Winery · Merlot
- Beringerbottled
Winery · Founders' Estate Merlot
- Bernardo Winerybottled
Winery · Malbec Merlot, Merlot, White Merlot
- Black Stallion Winerybottled
Winery · Majestic Shadow, Meritage Red Wine
- Bryant Family Vineyardbottled
Winery · Bettina
- Burgessbottled
Winery · Contadina
- Cakebread Cellarsbottled
Winery · Merlot
- Chappelletbottled
Winery · Merlot
- Charles Krugbottled
Winery · Merlot
and 93 more in the roster.
105 of this atlas’s 2772 curated producers, 57 of them with a named wine in the atlas made from it. A roster is not a census — this is who the atlas has entered, not who grows the grape in California.
Measured chemistry, from one producer's own sheets
Ridge Monte Bello 2021
31% merlot13.5 %
alcohol
3.46
pH
6.9 g/L
TA
—
RS
1 wine from 1 producer, each read from that producer’s own tech sheet and linked to it. No average is shown, and none should be computed from these. Wineries that publish tech sheets are selected by their own marketing departments, so a mean across them describes publishing habits rather than a grape.