Meritage: The New World Wine Made From Traditional Bordeaux Varieties

Meritage: The New World Wine Made From Traditional Bordeaux Varieties

Close up image man and woman hands with goblet of wine at the sea side King Family Vineyards in Crozet, Virginia has won two Virginia Governor's Cup awards thanks to its flagship wine: Meritage. Several of its neighbors have enjoyed similar success from their Meritage wines, including Jefferson Vineyards, Stinson Vineyards and Pollak Vineyards. Meritage wines are from the New World, blends made with the "noble" Bordeaux grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and (more rarely) St. Macaire, Gros Verdot and Carmenère for reds and Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle du Bordelais for whites. Meritage wines represent a such a meaningful product that in 1988, a group of vintners from the United States formed The Meritage Association in order to identify these wines, which aren't entitled to labeling that includes the term Bordeaux, because they aren't from that winegrowing region. This group includes members from many states as well as Mexico, Israel, France, Canada, Australia and Argentina. The name Meritage is a combination of the words merit and heritage, and was chosen from a list of 6, 000+ entries in an effort to name the new wine category for the marketplace. And how to say it?