Blended Red Wines
The Rational Behind Blending Varietals Together

 By Tom Baker

Why blend red wines together? There are many rationales. Most obvious is to improve
the shortcomings of one wine by adding another with a different set of deficiencies, saving both varieties. The reason that most inexpensive American wines are without obvious flaw is because they are blends.

Varietally Labeled Wines
Most varietally labeled wines are also blends. The laws governing blending vary greatly from country to country. In the USA a wine may be varietally labeled if 75% of the wine consists of the named variety. So don’t imagine that when you purchase a wine labeled Cabernet Sauvignon there isn’t a little of something else in there—up to 25%.

Pure Varietals
But there is another side to the issue of blending. A few varietals, most notably Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, rarely benefit from blending with other varietals. These wines tend to be complete within themselves and need no companion to fill in their deficits. Zinfandels also are often unblended, except for a small dose of Petite Sirah in some cases. Inexpensive Zinfandels, as noted above, will probably be assembled from multiple sources of Zinfandel fruit.

The Bordeaux Blend
While the vignerons of Burgundy, Alsace and the Loire Valley have generally avoided blending different varietals, the opposite is true in Bordeaux. Apart from a few vintages of Chateau Latour, all the fine red Bordeaux wines are blends. The French understood this in the last decade of the nineteenth century when all the Bordeaux vineyards were replanted to various “field blends,” now harvested separately. On the left bank Cabernet Sauvignon was king and occupied about 90% of the red wine vineyards, the remainder planted largely to Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot. On the right bank in St. Emilion and Pomerol
the mix favored either Cabernet Franc or Merlot with small plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The reason for blending both Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot was that in the eyes of the French, neither of these grapes was likely to produce the best, most complete, wine possible. The addition of Merlot to a Cabernet Sauvignon softens the wine; Cabernet Franc deepens the color and adds a tone of complexity; Petite Verdot is said to add an aromatic element.  While the typical Cabernet Sauvignon blends usually approach 90% of the base wine, the Merlot based wines of St. Emilion tend to be more highly blended, often consisting of blends as high as 60/40%. But occasionally Merlot will shine in a particular vintage and the blend will be adjusted. Occasional pure Merlots are not uncommon.

American Red Blends
The past decade has seen a strong trend away from pure varietally labeled wines in the USA. Wine lovers have apparently grown tired of varietal wines that resemble each other too closely and are intrigued by blended wines with proprietary names. Unlike French law, which governs all blends, US law gives the wine maker total discretion. And so we now have blends of Syrah and Zinfandel, unheard of just a decade ago.

California Meritage