Puddy Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 Saw a bottle of wine at the store yesterday that was 66% Merlot, 30% Cabernet, 4% Zinfandel. Are blends common? Are they any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundaynfl Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Blended or Meritage wines can allow the winemaker to be a little more "artistic" with wine and put a more personal stamp on a wine that they make, than a single varietal wine. Cab. Franc is probably one of the most common blending grapes out there. Depending on the meal or company I truly enjoy blended wines, so I would say blends, if done well are definitely worth drinking! If you enjoy coffee you may be able to compare blended wines to a single plantation vs. a blended coffee... same with chocolates etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Blended or Meritage wines can allow the winemaker to be a little more "artistic" with wine and put a more personal stamp on a wine that they make, than a single varietal wine. Cab. Franc is probably one of the most common blending grapes out there. Depending on the meal or company I truly enjoy blended wines, so I would say blends, if done well are definitely worth drinking! If you enjoy coffee you may be able to compare blended wines to a single plantation vs. a blended coffee... same with chocolates etc... Good info here...I'm also a big fan of blends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorcher Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Blended or Meritage wines can allow the winemaker to be a little more "artistic" with wine and put a more personal stamp on a wine that they make, than a single varietal wine. Cab. Franc is probably one of the most common blending grapes out there. Depending on the meal or company I truly enjoy blended wines, so I would say blends, if done well are definitely worth drinking! If you enjoy coffee you may be able to compare blended wines to a single plantation vs. a blended coffee... same with chocolates etc... This is good advice, the only thing that I would add is that the quality of blends as with single grape wines depends on the vineyard, so you should try a few different vineyards in your decision process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Chicken Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 This is good advice, the only thing that I would add is that the quality of blends as with single grape wines depends on the vineyard, so you should try a few different vineyards in your decision process. Sometimes you will find some great blends that include grapes from different vineyards. My favorite example is Seven Deadly Zins out of Lodi, CA (2003 if you can find it. Much better than the 2004) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Sometimes you will find some great blends that include grapes from different vineyards. My favorite example is Seven Deadly Zins out of Lodi, CA (2003 if you can find it. Much better than the 2004) If you like that, there's something special about the Lodi area. We've been digging up all of the Zins from that area and many are better than the 7 Deadly Zins. The same winery that produces the 7 Deadly Zins also produces an Earthquake Zin which I love. They also produce an Earthquake Cab which I buy a case at a time. Great if you like them big and fruity. Windmills Zin is the least bold of the bunch. Talus has the same character as the 7 Deadly Zins but is somewhat thinner and less fruity, but at half the price it is an excellent wine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Blended wines only seem strange to US consumer because of our labeling laws. In the US wine labels are governed by varietal type and require 75% of whatever grape they're calling the wine. Traditionally, everything else got some made up name and was relegated to jug wine. In France and Italy (and to a lesser degree Spain), wine is labeled by region where blends are common but regulated. For instance in Bordeaux they all have some combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. Each region of Bordeaux tends to have higher concentrations of each of these grapes and as you learn the areas, you know what you are getting. You can't call your wine Cote Rotie (a region in the Northern Rhone) for instance if you put any less than 93%(I think) Syrah and blend it with anything but Viognier. On the other hand, there are 13 varietals that can be used in Chateau Neuf du Pape. Long story short, in many cases, blending grapes create a better wine because each grape might bring something to the table. In the case of bordeaux Cab Sauv is power, Merlot is softness, Cab Franc aromatics, Malbec is color, and Petit Verdot... well honestly I have no idea what that brings as you almost never see it bottled by itself. In the mid 80s high end CA producers lobbied to have the Mertiage category created so they could emulate the wines of Bordeaux. While the terms is often used to describe any blend, it actually specifically refers to US wines that use only (but not necc. all) of the 5 Bordeaux grapes listed above. This is often the finest offering from the winery and they needed to create a category of distinction to reflect that. To a degree, that sort of opened the door to what I tend to think of as kitchen sink blends where winemakers try to use up bits and lots of wines that they might have otherwise sold to bulk producers and make a few extra bucks. By and large, I tend to stick to blends with some global precedent (like a Rhone style blend for instance) rather than some Zin, Cab, Merlot, Grenache, Sangiovese blend. But that isn't to say I haven't had good versions of the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nogohawk Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Love the blends too and usually can get them at a decent price (less than $25 per bottle). Had a real good one this weekend from Chile or Argentina - it was a malbec, merlot and cab. sauv. blend. Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle LawDawg Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Typically, I enjoy strict varietals more than blends but there are some great blends out there as well. In my experience, too many wineries use blends to make a more middle-of-the-road wine. I'm not talking quality, just that they tend to lose some of the specific characteristics or a given vineyard or grape. That said, there were a few bottles of the new Alec's Blend waiting for me when I got to work today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.