Why Blend?

 
By Kaitlin Ohlinger

 

An observation: somewhere in the early stages of wine interest, people often become fixated with wines that are blends of different grapes in the same bottle. It is a pretty intriguing subject. There’s a certain amount of mystery about a blended bottle of wine. Sometimes they’re listed as having 1% of this, or 3% of that. How exactly do they know that it’s precisely 1%? Did they try it with 2% and decide it was better with 1%? How long does THAT take? Where do you even start?

 

The answers to some of these questions are somewhat twofold. On a trip to California about three years ago, I learned one of the most interesting facts I’ve ever learned; the tiny percentages are sometimes just estimates! Mind. Blown. This is more common in some wine regions than others- like in California, specifically Zinfandel and common Zinfandel blending grapes like Mataro, Alicante Bouchet, Petite Sirah, Carignan, Grenache, and more. There’s a really cool reason for these teeny percentages. Grapes like these are often co-fermented. They all grow together happily in the same vineyard, because they all thrive under the same growing conditions and ripen very close together. So when it comes time to pick them, they’re all picked at the same time, and thrown together to ferment (turn into wine) in the same barrel. Co-fermented. The percentages of each grape are determined by what the winemaker or vineyard owner knows is planted; how many vines of each grape there are. I liked this method instantly once I learned a little bit about it. I like that it’s simpler than one might think, but also because it’s an age-old method of making wine. Another interesting tidbit about co-fermentation- in the Cote Rotie part of France’s Rhone Valley, it’s been common for centuries to ferment a little bit of Viognier (a white grape) in with Syrah (a red grape). Somewhere along the way, someone discovered that this actually intensifies the deep color of the wine, and adds a beautiful floral characteristic to a grape that can be gamey, peppery and a little wild. Pretty cool!

 

Then you have the incredibly complex “art” of blending, which is a beast of it’s own. Take your average Napa Red blend, maybe one that says it contains 60% Cabernet, 30% Merlot, and 10% Petit Verdot. These grapes were most likely not fermented together. In order to maintain a consistent style from year to year, a winery might adjust these percentages each year to achieve the best balance in the finished product. Petit Verdot is a grape that sometimes struggles to reach optimal ripeness, but when it does can offer some very powerful tannin and depth of color. Merlot, on the other hand, can have a tendency to lose acidity if it’s not picked at the right time. So maybe in one year, the Merlot was a bit lackluster, so it’s balanced out with some additional Petit Verdot. That is a highly simplified account, but I think you get the general idea.

 

This process can take winemakers weeks. Especially when they’re not using different grapes! Last summer in Oregon, I got a little peek at how blending is done and it was pretty much life changing. So Oregon grows a lot of Pinot Noir. The Willamette Valley is subject to a lot of “micro-climates” as well as different soil types. So just one winemaker might have access to many different vineyards, all of them possessing different characteristics. Which are even more different from year to year. Most of them will produce a bottling from each specific vineyard site, but then also make a “Cuvee” that can be a blend of ALL the vineyard sites. That’s where the “art” really comes in. A talented winemaker will be able to see the strengths of each site that year, and know how to blend them together to create the best final product. It’s pretty astonishing. It made my head hurt a little since I am terrible with math, but the process was a ton of fun. And oh yeah- I won the seminar. So that was cool. (Shameless plug).

 

Am I a blending prodigy? I don’t really think so. I got lucky on the blend. The reason I won was because I was persistent. I knew mine happened to be the best and I didn’t relent amongst the group I was in. And wine people are a competitive bunch, make no mistake! I don’t know, maybe tenacity comes along with red hair. So hopefully this was a fun little look into the blending process- the options are almost limitless, so have fun exploring a new blend!

 

 

Recommended Bottles:

 

Montinore “Borealis” White, 13 Oregon, Willamette (Gewürztraminer, Muller-Thurgau, Riesling, Pinot Gris)  $16

Raats “Jasper” Red, 12 South Africa, Stellenbosch (Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Cabernet, Petit Verdot, Merlot)  $19

Flowers “Perennial” Red, 10 California  (Pinot Noir, Syrah, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay)  $32

Ridge “Lytton Springs”, 11 California, Dry Creek  (Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carignan)  $39