KWV Classic Merlot
£10.59
£14.12 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 9 bottles available
Soft, plummy and easy to love, this is Merlot in its most welcoming mood. Ripe dark fruit, a whisper of cedar from gentle oak ageing, and tannins so smooth they practically pour themselves. From KWV, one of South Africa's most reliable names, it's an everyday red that punches well above its price tag.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
UK wide delivery
Expert curated
Our Verdict
We keep the KWV Classic Merlot on our shelves because it does exactly what an under-£15 Merlot should do, and a little more besides. There's no rough edges here, no hollow middle, just genuine ripe fruit, soft tannins and a touch of oak polish that lifts it above most of the supermarket field. It's our go-to recommendation when someone asks for an easygoing red that won't disappoint a mixed crowd. A reliably popular bottle with our customers, and one we happily drink ourselves.
Tasting Notes
Lift the glass and you get ripe plum and mulberry straight away, with a darker streak of sour cherry underneath. There's a whisper of something green and herbaceous, think bay leaf brushed against tomato vine, and a cedary lick of oak that frames rather than dominates. The palate is soft and welcoming, tannins polished to a pleasing roundness, fruit holding centre stage all the way through a clean, even finish.
Ripe Plum & Mulberry
Dark, juicy orchard fruit leads the way, generous and rounded, with the kind of natural sweetness that makes Merlot such an easy pour.
Sour Cherry Lift
A tart cherry note cuts through the richer fruit, keeping things fresh and stopping the wine from feeling heavy or one-dimensional.
Herbaceous Edge
A subtle green-leaf, almost savoury character runs underneath the fruit, adding interest and lifting the wine away from simple jamminess.
About This Wine
Here's a wine that doesn't ask much of you, just a glass and an appetite. KWV's Classic Merlot is built for midweek dinners, casual Friday nights, and those moments when you want something genuinely enjoyable without overthinking it. And it delivers, every time.
Expect ripe plum and mulberry on the nose, lifted by a hint of sour cherry and that herbaceous, slightly cedary note that good Merlot does so well. The palate is generous and rounded, soft tannins, plenty of dark fruit, and a finish that's smooth rather than showy. A spell of eight to ten months in oak gives it just enough structure to feel grown-up, without ever turning heavy or austere.
KWV draws fruit from across the Western Cape, working with growers in every corner of the Cape winelands. That breadth shows in the glass: this is a Merlot that captures the warmth and ripeness South Africa does so well, while keeping the freshness that makes you want a second glass.
Pour it with a rich tomato pasta, roast chicken with herbs, or a simple grilled steak. It's equally happy on its own with a film and a sofa. Delivered across the UK, it's the kind of bottle you'll want a few of on the rack, for guests, for Tuesdays, for whenever red wine is the answer.
Food Pairing
This is a brilliantly versatile midweek bottle. The soft tannins and ripe fruit make it a natural with tomato-rich pasta dishes, a slow-cooked ragù, a baked lasagne, even a Friday-night pizza. It also has the weight for roast duck with cherry sauce or a simple grilled sirloin. Equally happy on its own with a hunk of cheese after dinner.
- —Beef and tomato lasagne
- —Roast duck breast with a cherry reduction
- —Grilled sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce
- —Roast chicken with herb stuffing
- —Spaghetti bolognese
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature. If it's been sitting somewhere warm, give it twenty minutes in the fridge before pouring.
Decanting
No need to decant, but a quick swirl in the glass helps. If you're keen, half an hour in a carafe will lift the aromatics and let the herbaceous notes show a touch more clearly.
Glass
A standard red wine glass with a decent bowl is all you need, nothing fussy required for an honest, fruit-forward Merlot like this.
Cellaring
Best stored on its side in a cool, dark spot if you're not drinking straight away. Aim to enjoy within two to three years of the vintage for peak freshness.
Ageing & Cellaring
Built for drinking now rather than long cellaring. The fruit is at its most expressive in the first couple of years after release, and the wine will hold comfortably for two to three years from vintage. Pull the cork whenever the mood strikes, there's no reward in waiting.
The Winemaking
A measured eight to ten months in oak does the heavy lifting here, long enough to soften the edges and weave a thread of cedar through the fruit, but never so long that the plum and mulberry get buried under timber. The result is a Merlot that feels polished rather than overworked, with tannins that have had time to settle into something rounded and approachable. Craft over showmanship.
The Western Cape Region
Le Domaine draws its fruit from vineyards scattered across the Western Cape, from coastal sites cooled by Atlantic breezes to warmer inland slopes, all planted between 50 and 300 metres above sea level. This broad sourcing is deliberate. By blending components from different microclimates, the cellar builds a consistent house style that balances the crisp acidity of cooler sites with the ripe generosity of warmer ones. It's the Western Cape's extraordinary diversity captured in a single glass.
About the Producer
KWV
KWV isn't just a producer, it's practically an institution. Head to Paarl in the Cape Winelands and you'll find one of the largest wine cellar complexes on earth, sprawling across more than 22 hectares. That scale tells you something about the role this co-operative has played in shaping South African wine as we know it.
Founded in 1918 to bring order and quality to a fragmented industry of independent farmers, KWV spent much of the twentieth century as the organising force behind South African wine. Quotas, pricing, export rules; for decades, if you were a Cape wine farmer, KWV touched your business in some way. It's a history unlike almost any other wine producer in the world, and it explains why the name still carries real weight in Paarl and beyond.
Today KWV has evolved into a producer in its own right, making wines, brandies and spirits from that historic Paarl base, drawing on fruit sourced across the Western Cape. What we love about KWV is the reliability. The Classic range covers the varietals UK drinkers already know and enjoy, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, made accessible and consistent without cutting corners. These are honest, well-made wines for everyday drinking, the kind you can pour on a Tuesday without a second thought.
Then there's Roodeberg, KWV's most storied wine. First released in 1949, it became something of a Cape institution itself, a red blend so sought after in South Africa that it was once rationed among loyal customers. That's the sort of detail that tells you a wine has earned its reputation the old-fashioned way, through generations of drinkers rather than marketing.
We stock KWV because it offers UK customers two things at once: a genuine piece of South African wine history, and wines that are simply good value, easy to enjoy, and true to their place. Whether you're new to South African wine or you grew up with a bottle of Roodeberg on the family table, there's something here worth exploring. Every bottle carries Wine of Origin Western Cape certification, a straightforward guarantee of where it's really from.