Believe it or not, it's been four decades since Robert Mondavi and American wine producers began popularizing the notion of drinking varietal wine. Striking a blow for simplicity and straight forward wine consumption, Mondavi and a handful of New World contemporaries focused on a series of single grape varieties, catapulting “varietal” wine to near cult status.
It wasn’t only America that was busy searching for the flavour of the month. Australia, Spain, Chile, Italy, South Africa, Portugal and, more recently, Canada have all had their moments. In fact, each has played an important role in tinkering with the style of wine we all drink today.
But there’s more to wine than one can extract from a single grape, which brings us to today’s topic: blended red wine. Winemakers have been blending grapes for centuries, inspired no doubt by the first grower to lose an entire crop of merlot or cabernet sauvignon to an uncontrollable natural disaster, such as rain or mould or hail. It doesn’t take much to wipe out a crop.
Today, modern wine growers turn to blends to reduce that risk and in many cases make a wine that is superior to its mono-varietal cousins. Blending can increase complexity and balance and often, more practically, cover up faults as they relate to individual varieties or vintages — smoothing out edges, softening tannins, taming bitter notes and much more. Many believe the resulting blend or whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Blended wine, once incomprehensible to the average consumer is a concept more easily embraced as we step pass the mono-varietal world into the depth and complexity of a blended wine universe. Ergo the comeback, so to speak, of Rioja, (made with tempranillo, graciano, and mazuelo) and new Spanish blends involving grenache cabernet and tempranillo. Then there’s the return of Bordeaux and its imitators made with ever sophisticated varying mixes of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot) or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for that matter, and its syrah, grenache, mourvèdre, counoise and cinsault grapes that can be joined by as many as eight other varieties. All point toward consumer readiness.
Nowhere is the rush to blend more advanced than when the key ingredient is cabernet sauvignon. Seemingly born to be blended, cabernet sports a trio of admirable attributes, namely color, tannin and acid. It is these characteristics that give it the ability to be softened with the likes of merlot and/or cabernet franc, as is the case in Bordeaux, or to be used as a hardener to firm up the soft underbelly of grapes such as Australia’s shiraz or Spain’s tempranillo. Of course, the other aspect to blending is its ability to stretch a scarce resource while at the same time keeping shelf prices reasonable.
What follows is a quick look at some of the more interesting blends you can enjoy in British Columbia.
Spain can be a fun category to experience blended reds and one of the best is the highly affordable Espelt Sauló Garnacha Cariñena 2006, $15 . The Sauló (the name of the region’s decomposed granite) is a blend of garnacha and cariñena awash in fragrant raspberry fruit and earthy mineral tones. Grilled anything will work here.
Two of my current favourite blends from Australia include the Rolf Binder Heinrich 2006, $29 , a blend of shiraz, mataro and grenache with delicious orange, pepper, coffee, licorice, black cherry, black raspberry fruit flavours, and Wirra Wirra Scrubby Rise Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot 2006, $18 , a slightly more reserved mix of fruit that dabbles in blueberries and spicy, black cherry, smoky, meaty, chocolate flavours.
Chile is a logical place to look for blends with cabernet, syrah, merlot and carmenère grapes widely planted. A trio of picks worth searching for include: Trio Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Cabernet Franc 2006, $17 , a fresh, dry, slightly chunky red with peppery menthol, black olive, cassis and chocolate fruit flavours. The Terramater Vineyard Reserve Cabernet Sangiovese 2007, $13 , is a mix of cabernet and sangiovese that over delivers for its price. The kicker is Coyam Emiliana 2006, $30 , a delicious mix of syrah, cabernet sauvignon, carmenère, merlot and mourvèdre that is organic for good measure. The blend seems to calm all the components down, making the whole richer and smoother.
The local blends tend to be Bordeaux-inspired, thus the mixing involves cabernet and merlot with cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot. The current stars include Laughing Stock Vineyards Portfolio 2006, $39 . Winemaker David Enns uses the five classic Bordeaux grapes in a 61/16/16/2/1 mix of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec, petit verdot to shape the ripe black fruit and the savoury mint flavours.
Should you have any doubts that blending is the way to go, the brand new Mission Hill Quatrain 2005, $48, is a blend of merlot, syrah, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. This red is round, supple, elegant and full on the palate with licorice, black cherry jam, black berry, tobacco and orange flavours. It’s a big step up in quality.
Even in the California, the original home of single varietal wine, blending is coming of age. A classic is the Ridge Geyserville 2006, $50 . While most people refer to it as a zinfandel, the blend is a skillful mix of zinfandel (70), cariganane (18), petite sirah (10) and mataro (2). Forty-one vintages later, Geyserville remains a beacon for single-site zinfandel packed with big juicy exotic fruit with black cherry jam, bramble berry fruit, orange peel and coffee flavours.
I know we’ve been talking a lot about red blends but mixing white grapes can be equally satisfying. My current favourite American white blend is Signorello Seta 2006, $38. The Seta (silk in Italian) model is Bordeaux Blanc, specifically Haut Brion. The blend is a silky mix of 60/40 sémillon/sauvignon blanc and it delivers on the palate. A consistent performer, it mixes nectarine skin and minerality on the nose with bits of lime rind and passion fruit. On the palate it’s oh-so-elegant with bright citrus fruit flavours and as always finely balanced in the finish.
Blended wine — can there be a better mix?
Anthony Gismondi is a globetrotting wine writer who makes his home in West Vancouver, British Columbia. For more of his thoughts on wine log onto www.gismondionwine.com
