Cabernet vs Merlot: Taste, Bordeaux, Food and Price

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are Bordeaux’s two great red grapes, half-siblings that are usually blended but taste different on their own. Cabernet is full-bodied and firm, with black currant, black cherry and cedar, and built to age. Merlot is softer and rounder, with cherry, plum and chocolate, and easier to enjoy young. Choose Cabernet for steak and grilled red meat, and Merlot when you want a smooth red that also works with chicken, pasta and pizza. Merlot is also often the cheaper bottle; below we show what the data does and doesn’t say about why.

Cabernet vs Merlot at a glance

	Cabernet Sauvignon	Merlot
Parents	Cabernet Franc × Sauvignon Blanc	Cabernet Franc × Magdeleine Noire des Charentes
Bordeaux heartland	Left Bank (Médoc, Graves)	Right Bank (Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Fronsac)
Ripening (Bordeaux Wines)	Late, 7–12 days after Merlot	Early
Sweetness (Wine Folly)	Dry	Bone dry
Body (Wine Folly)	Full	Medium-full
Tannin (Wine Folly)	Medium-high	Medium-high, but softer and less astringent
Acidity (Wine Folly)	Medium-high	Medium
Alcohol (Wine Folly)	13.5–15%	13.5–15%
Main flavors (Wine Folly)	Black cherry, black currant, cedar, baking spice, graphite	Cherry, plum, chocolate, bay leaf, vanilla
Serve at (Wine Folly)	60–68°F (15–20°C)	60–68°F (15–20°C)

Tannin is the drying, grippy feel on your gums, mostly from grape skins and seeds. Acidity is the fresh, mouthwatering tang. Body is how heavy the wine feels in your mouth.

How they taste

Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Folly lists Cabernet as dry and full-bodied, with medium-high tannin and acidity, and main flavors of black cherry, black currant, cedar, baking spices and graphite. Bordeaux’s wine council adds cassis, licorice and mint, with a hint of forest floor over time, and describes firm, vigorous tannins and an upright structure. Wine Folly notes that the Bordeaux grapes share aroma compounds called methoxypyrazines, the source of a green bell pepper note in some Cabernets.

Merlot

Bordeaux’s council describes Merlot’s aromas as cherry, plum, fig and violet, turning toward chocolate or coffee with age, and its palate as supple, rounded and velvety. Wine Folly lists it as bone dry and medium-full, with medium acidity and cherry, chocolate, plum, bay leaf and vanilla. Climate changes it a lot: fresh red plum and cherry from cooler places, baked blackberry and fruitcake from warmer ones, per Wine Folly.

Why Merlot feels softer

Both grapes score medium-high for tannin on Wine Folly’s charts, so the difference is texture. Wine Folly explains that Merlot “has thinner skins and fewer seeds than Cabernet Sauvignon, its half-sibling,” so less tannin is extracted, and that its tannins are shaped differently, giving a less astringent wine. In our view, that is the one-line answer: Cabernet is grip, Merlot is plush.

Bordeaux: Left Bank vs Right Bank

The two grapes divide Bordeaux between them. According to the region’s wine council (the CIVB), Merlot is the dominant red grape, at 60% of all AOP plantings and 66% of red plantings, while Cabernet Sauvignon covers about 22.5% of the reds (22% on the council’s Cabernet page).

	Left Bank	Right Bank
Main areas	Médoc, Graves	Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Fronsac
Lead grape	Cabernet Sauvignon	Merlot
Soils (Bordeaux Wines)	Warm gravel	Clay-limestone and gravel
Style	Structured, built to age	Rounder, softer

Cabernet on the Left Bank. The council says Cabernet thrives above all on the warm, gravelly soils of the Médoc and Graves. It ripens late, usually 7 to 12 days after Merlot, and is “a true lover of oak,” one of the great grapes for long-aging wines.

Merlot on the Right Bank. Merlot grows everywhere in Bordeaux, the council says, but especially in Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac. It ripens early and tends to give generous alcohol and moderate acidity.

Why they are blended. The council describes the pair as a “powerhouse duo”: Merlot brings finesse, silkiness and roundness, while Cabernet adds structure and tannic backbone. Wine Folly adds that on the Left Bank, Merlot is used to smooth Cabernet-led blends.

Beyond Bordeaux

• Napa Valley: Napa Valley Vintners reports about 25,000 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon (54% of the vineyards) against 3,632 acres of Merlot (8%).
• Chile and Italy: Wine Folly says Chile offers some of the best values in quality Cabernet, and that Merlot and Cabernet meet in Tuscany’s “Super Tuscan” blends.
• Worldwide: Wine Folly, citing University of Adelaide data for 2021, ranks Cabernet Sauvignon the most planted wine grape in the world and Merlot second, at about 266,440 hectares.

Why is Merlot often cheaper than Cabernet?

This is a common question, so we looked for hard numbers rather than theories. The clearest public data is California’s official grape crush report, which records what wineries paid growers.

California grape prices, 2025 crop (average $ per ton)	Cabernet Sauvignon	Merlot
Statewide, 2025	$2,122.49	$1,066.64
Statewide, 2024	$2,186.32	$1,033.43
Napa County (District 4), 2025	$8,644.88	$4,764.23
Tons crushed statewide, 2025	423,491	104,848

Source: California Grape Crush Report, Final 2025 Crop (USDA NASS and CDFA, April 30, 2026), Tables 1 and 6.

What this supports:

• Merlot grapes cost about half as much as Cabernet grapes in California, statewide and in Napa alike, in both 2024 and 2025.
• California crushes about four times as much Cabernet as Merlot, and Napa plants about seven times the acreage, so Cabernet is both the larger and the higher-priced grape there.
• Place matters as much as grape. A ton of Napa Merlot cost more than twice the statewide Cabernet average.

What it doesn’t support: none of the sources we read explains why buyers pay less for Merlot, and grape prices are only part of what a bottle costs (oak, aging, brand and appellation matter too). Wine Folly says the 2004 film Sideways, whose hero mocks Merlot, reportedly hurt its sales, and that the effect has largely faded. We’d treat that as background, not proof of the price gap. The practical takeaway, in our view: if you want a Bordeaux-style red for less, Merlot is the first grape to look at.

How to read the label

• US varietal labels: under federal rules (27 CFR 4.23), a wine named after a grape must be at least 75% that grape. A “Cabernet Sauvignon” can contain some Merlot, and the reverse.
• Bordeaux names places. Médoc or Graves points to a Cabernet-led blend; Saint-Émilion, Pomerol or Fronsac to a Merlot-led one.

Food pairing: Cabernet vs Merlot

Dish	Better choice	Why
Ribeye, strip steak, burgers	Cabernet Sauvignon	Fat and protein soften firm tannin
Peppery sauces, bold dishes	Cabernet Sauvignon	Wine Folly’s pairing for Cabernet
Filet mignon with peppercorn sauce	Full, warm-climate Merlot	Wine Folly’s pick for Napa-style Merlot
Rack of lamb, roast veal	Either; full Merlot per Wine Folly	Rich meat for a rich red
Roast turkey, beef short rib, ratatouille	Merlot-led Bordeaux	Wine Folly’s picks
Pizza, BBQ chicken, mushroom pasta	Everyday Merlot	Wine Folly’s picks for entry-level Merlot

Our pick: Cabernet for a steak dinner, Merlot for a weeknight table with mixed dishes. Our guide to wine with steak goes cut by cut.

How to serve them

Step	Cabernet Sauvignon (Wine Folly)	Merlot (Wine Folly)
Temperature	60–68°F (15–20°C)	60–68°F (15–20°C)
Glass	Oversized	Oversized
Decanting	About 1 hour	About 30 minutes
Cellaring	10+ years	Many 3–7 years; exceptional ones 15+

Tip: If a young Cabernet tastes harsh, give it the full hour of air and serve it with food. Merlot is usually ready sooner.

We’d chill either bottle for about 15 minutes before opening if your room is warmer than 68°F.

Which should you choose?

• Choose Cabernet Sauvignon if you like dark fruit, firm structure and a wine that can age.
• Choose Merlot if you want a softer, rounder red with cherry and chocolate, or more wine for your money.
• Choose a Bordeaux blend if you want both.

Wine is for adults of legal drinking age (21 in the US). Please drink responsibly.