Wine of the Week: 2025 Roccolo Bianco di Merlot

I’m still riding my Swiss vacation, so we’re staying in Switzerland for this week’s Wine of the Week. Honestly, I think my body is still there too. 

After a long flight, we finally arrived at our hotel in Merlischachen, a tiny village on the shores of Lake Lucerne. We were starving and very ready for a glass of something.

Just down the road was the Coop, Switzerland's grocery chain. We walked down and picked up some cheese and a bottle of wine.

There was one small complication.

We didn’t have a corkscrew. ( I forgot to throw one in my suitcase) We weren't sure the hotel had one either.

So our wine selection had to be made very carefully. It didn’t matter how interesting the bottle looked, if it had a cork, it wasn’t coming back to the hotel with us!

That’s how the 2025 Roccolo Bianco di Merlot from Ticino ended up in our basket.

Back at the hotel, we discovered another minor problem: no ice, no ice bucket. (yes I asked at the front desk)

I walked across the street to the restaurant, where they kindly gave me some ice. Back in our room, the bathroom sink became our makeshift wine chiller.

Sometimes you just have to improvise.

Wait…White Merlot?

Yes!

We tend to think of Merlot as a red wine grape, but in Ticino, producing Bianco di Merlot—or white Merlot—is a regional specialty.

The wine is made from red Merlot grapes, but the juice has little or no contact with the grape skins. Since the color in red wine comes primarily from the skins, separating the juice from those skins quickly allows the winemaker to produce a white wine from a red grape.

Think of it as Merlot showing us an entirely different side of its personality.

In the Glass

The Roccolo is very pale, almost water-white with a whisper of straw.

On the nose: delicate white flowers and ripe stone fruit.

On the palate: beautiful minerality and a soft mouthfeel. It's fresh and easy to sip, and the Merlot gives it a gentle roundness you don't always find in a crisp white.

And with our cheese, it was a good match. But we would have eaten anything.

After two flights, what felt like miles of walking through the Frankfurt airport, and finally arriving in our little Swiss village, it tasted pretty darn good.

What Do You Eat With White Merlot?

Our first pairing was about as simple as it gets: cheese and crackers.

And it was perfect.

The freshness and minerality of the wine worked beautifully against the richness of the cheese, while its softer texture kept the pairing from feeling sharp or overly acidic.

But Bianco di Merlot is incredibly food-friendly.

I would especially reach for it with:

• A cheese board

• Raclette

• Grilled or poached fish

• Shrimp or scallops

• Linguine with clams

• Lemon-herb chicken

• Risotto

• A summer vegetable tart

• Salads with goat cheese

• Light pasta dishes

• Antipasti

A bottle doesn't have to be expensive or difficult to find to create a memory. Sometimes it's the bottle you grab from a grocery-store shelf because you're tired, hungry and don't have a corkscrew.