Cabernet Sauvignon vs Merlot: What Is the Difference?

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are the two most planted red grapes in Bordeaux, they are usually blended together, and they are half-siblings with the same father, Cabernet Franc. They still taste nothing alike. Cabernet is firm, dark and built to age; Merlot is soft, plummy and ready when you are. If you have ever stood in a bottle shop wondering which one to grab for dinner, this is the whole difference in one page.

Table of Contents

1. The short version
2. Why they taste different
3. Where each one is at its best
4. What to buy
5. Which one for dinner
6. The blend
7. Frequently asked questions

The short version

	Cabernet Sauvignon	Merlot
Tastes of	Blackcurrant, mint, cedar, capsicum when underripe	Plum, black cherry, chocolate, a touch of herbs
Feel in the mouth	Firm, grippy tannin; full body; dries the gums	Soft, round, velvety; medium to full body
Acidity	Higher	Lower
Ready to drink	Often needs three to five years; the good ones go twenty	Usually good on release
Best Australian regions	Coonawarra, Margaret River	Coonawarra, Langhorne Creek, Margaret River (usually in a blend)
Best French regions	Bordeaux Left Bank (Médoc, Pauillac, Margaux)	Bordeaux Right Bank (Pomerol, Saint-Émilion)
Buy it for	Steak, lamb, a wine to keep	Roast chicken, pasta, pizza, a Tuesday

Why they taste different

Start with the grape itself. A Cabernet Sauvignon berry is small, with a thick skin, and the skin is where tannin and colour live. More skin for the amount of juice means more tannin, more colour and a wine that needs time to soften. A Merlot berry is bigger with a thinner skin, so the wine comes out softer, lighter in tannin and rounder straight away.

Then there is ripening. Merlot ripens up to two weeks before Cabernet. In a cool year or a cool region that matters a lot: the Merlot gets ripe and the Cabernet does not, which is why Bordeaux grows both and blends them. Merlot’s early ripening also means it carries a little more sugar, so it often ends up half a per cent higher in alcohol and a touch lower in acid, which adds to the soft, plush feel.

The flavours follow. Cabernet’s signature is blackcurrant, with cedar and a herbal or minty note, and a green capsicum smell if it was picked too early. Merlot’s signature is plum and black cherry, with chocolate and soft spice, and a leafy, tea-like note when it is underripe. Put a glass of each side by side and the Cabernet is darker, smells sharper and grips your gums; the Merlot is friendlier and finishes sooner.

Where each one is at its best

In Bordeaux the river decides. On the Left Bank (Médoc, Pauillac, Margaux) the gravel soils drain well and warm up, and Cabernet leads the blend. On the Right Bank (Pomerol and Saint-Émilion) the clay stays cool and Merlot leads; Château Pétrus, the most expensive wine in Bordeaux, is almost all Merlot. Across the whole region Merlot is the most planted grape, at 50 to 60 per cent of the vineyard, because it ripens reliably.

In Australia, Cabernet has the better reputation. Coonawarra’s red soil and Margaret River’s sea breezes make the country’s best, with blackcurrant, mint and structure. Our Coonawarra guide explains why. Merlot is the third most planted red grape here but has spent decades as the soft filler in Cabernet Merlot blends, and most cheap Australian Merlot is exactly what the film Sideways complained about: sweet, simple and forgettable. The good ones exist. Coonawarra Merlot from Katnook, Parker, Leconfield and Riddoch, and Langhorne Creek Merlot, have real plum fruit and enough structure to be interesting.

What to buy

Prices are Dan Murphy’s shelf prices on 9 September 2026 and will move about; BWS stocks many of the same names. Both grapes have a cheap tier that tastes cheap; spend a little more and the difference between the two grapes actually shows.

Wine	Price band	Why
Wynns The Siding Cabernet Sauvignon	About $14 to $21	The cheapest honest Cabernet in the country: blackcurrant, mint, a bit of grip
Riddoch Coonawarra Merlot	About $16	Plum and soft tannin from the same red soil, at the same money
Taylors Estate Merlot	About $17	Clare Valley, reliable, a good Tuesday bottle
Leconfield Coonawarra Merlot	About $25	The step up: real fruit, real structure, not sweet
Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon	About $27 to $49	The Cabernet benchmark; keeps for a decade
Katnook Estate or Parker Terra Rossa Merlot	About $30 to $38	As serious as Australian Merlot gets outside a mailing list

If you want to taste the difference properly, buy the Siding and the Riddoch Merlot, same region, same price, and open them together. Our Cabernet Sauvignon guide and Merlot guide go deeper on each grape.

Heads up: the boxes below link to Just Wines, our partner shop. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices were checked when this was written and move about.

Taste the two side by side with bottles from the partner shop:

Which one for dinner

Cabernet wants fat and protein to soften its tannin: steak, roast lamb, a beef pie, hard cheese. Our Cabernet snack pairings cover the small plates. Merlot is the easier match because it has less tannin to fight with: roast chicken, pork, meatballs, a tomato pasta, pizza, mushrooms, a burger. If the table is mixed or the food is mild, Merlot. If there is a steak in the middle, Cabernet.

The blend

Most Bordeaux is both grapes in one bottle, and so is a lot of Australian red labelled Cabernet Merlot. The idea is simple: Cabernet gives the backbone and the ageing, Merlot fills in the middle and makes it drinkable sooner. A cheap Cabernet Merlot from a big Australian brand is usually the softest, safest red on the shelf, which is why they sell so well. A good one from Margaret River (Cape Mentelle, Cullen and Vasse Felix all make them) is one of the best-value serious reds in the country.

Frequently asked questions