For a grape that has become the source of so much forgettable if quaffable red wine, the origins of Merlot’s name are rather poetic. As Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes tome tells us, one of the earliest-written records of the variety turns up in an 1824 manuscript about wines from the Médoc in Bordeaux. It states that Merlot was so-called because of a fondness of the blackbird (‘merle’ in French, and ‘merlau’ in Occitan) for its sweet and fleshy black grapes. They’re not the only ones who have a soft spot for this grape, which brings soft-edged, sweet-fruited qualities to red wine.