Processing difference of Pinot Noir and Merlot

[MissyCat]

Thanks, Innkeeper for the response in telling
me a lot about the two. But, I really need
to know about how the two are processed.
Do the grapes for the Merlot and Burgundy
go through an identical processing procedure to create the wine?

[Kcwhippet]

Merlot and Pinot Noir (the red grape for Burgundian wines) both are processed the same. They're harvested, crushed, fermented, aged in barrel for a period of time and bottled. That's pretty much the same procedure for just about all grape wines. About the only difference is that some wines aren't aged in barrels before bottling. Of course there are other little nuances of winemaking such as cold soaking, malolactic fermentation, filtering, fining, cold stabilization, etc. that some wines are subject to, but the crushing, fermenting, etc. are the basics that all wines undergo.

[Innkeeper]

Another major difference, at least in France, merlot is almost always blended with another wine. This is true to some extent in other regions, Australia for example. Pinot noir, and the other hand is almost never blended with another wine.

[Botafogo]

>>Pinot noir, and the other hand is almost never blended with another wine.<<

Except in Champagne where it is blended with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier to make big, chewy fiss like Billiot, Vilmart and Egly-Ouriet...

Roberto

[Kcwhippet]

Mmmm. Sure do like the Egli-Ouriet Rose.