Crossword Genius

French main? Opening unopened wine! (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

merlot

'wine' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'french main? opening unopened' is the wordplay.
'french main?' becomes 'mer' ('sea' in French - the main can mean the sea).
'opening' becomes 'slot' (slot is a kind of opening).
'unopened' means to remove the first letter (without opening letter).
'slot' with its first letter removed is 'lot'.
'mer'+'lot'='MERLOT'

(Other definitions for merlot that I've seen before include "Strange wine made from elm rot" , "Black wine grape" , "French variety of grape" , "Grape makes elm rot" , "Black grape variety" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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