Blending Is the Art and Science Behind Some of the World’s Most Coveted Wines
BY EMILY SALADINO. THE WINE ENTHUSIAST
Images Courtesy of Getty Images, Wine Enthusiast
If you’ve ever accidentally poured way too much vinegar into a salad dressing, you understand the delicacies of blending disparate ingredients.
For winemakers, blending is equal parts art and science, and it creates some of the world’s most iconic wines. Amarone, Châteauneuf-du-Papeand Chianti are all blends. Most Champagnes and rosés are, too.
There are several ways to blend wine. For instance, let’s say you work at a Bordeaux chateau. If the Cabernet Sauvignon coming out of the vineyard is un petit peu tannic, you might mix it with some Merlot or Cabernet Franc to soften its rougher edges.
Alternatively, if you make wine for a Champagne brand that’s famous for its yeasty opulence, you’ll blend each new vintage with previous years’ wines to maintain your house style.
“Blending can be within a vineyard, a region, a variety or between varieties,” explains Emma Wood, chief winemaker of Wirra Wirra Vineyardsin McLaren Vale, Australia. “I blend to create wines with greater depth and layers.”
Here’s everything you need to know about blending, including how it works and why it’s the backbone of so many world-famous wines.
Red Blends vs. White Blends
In red and white blends, the goal is always to create a cohesive whole that’s better than the sum of its parts. However, there are nuances to how they’re made.
Several prominent red blends get their flavors, textures and colors from a mixture of red and white wine grapes. Even though a wine is categorized as a red blend, it could still contain white grapes, and vice versa.
For example, Chianti DOCG contains mostly Sangiovese, but up to 10% might be the white wine grapes Malvasia and Trebbiano. Winemakers in the South of France choose from no fewer than 13 red or white grapes to create garnet- or straw-colored Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Meanwhile, in Champagne, cellar masters mix red wine grapes, such as Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, with white grapes like Chardonnay to create golden-hued bubbles.
Notable Blends Around the World
Bordeaux Blends
“Bordeaux is the largest fine wine district on earth,” write Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson in The World Atlas of Wine. Its influence on winemaking is similarly expansive, inspiring global producers to make red and white Bordeaux blends inspired by the Gallic originals.
Red Bordeaux blends combine Cabernet Sauvignon—a robust and late-ripening grape—with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The idea is to create a rounder profile that’s elegant and ageworthy.
The varieties and ratios of grapes used vary by region, clone and winemaker’s intention, explains Virginia Willcock, chief winemaker of Vasse Felix in Australia’s Margaret River. “There are so many grapes classified in what we call a Bordeaux blend, and they all perform differently depending where they are grown and pending their clonal selection to the place.”
White Bordeaux blends, sometimes called Bordeaux Blancs, combine Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon. Like red Bordeaux, the blend is designed to bring out the best in each grape.
“Sauvignon Blanc tends to be what I call linear,” says Jo LoGiurato, a certified wine specialist at Stew Leonard’s Wines & Spirits, which boasts locations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “The Sémillon gives it a little more plushness and softens it on the palate.”
California Red Blends
The governments of many European wine regions regulate which grapes can grow where, but Californians have no such restrictions. As a result, California red blends abound in various forms and at a broad range of price points. These wines span Bordeaux-inspired investment pieces from Napa’s most prestigious estates; lively, Rhône-style reds from the Central Coast; and Zinfandel-driven supermarket stalwarts.
The state also has a long history of field blends, or wines made from different varieties that are grown, picked and vinified together.
Rhône Blends
Winemakers throughout France’s 250-mile Rhône Valley make blends, but two areas in the Southern Rhône are particularly renowned for theirs.
Côtes du Rhône is home to elegantly approachable GSM wines, or red blends (and rosés) made from Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Similarly sophisticated white blends from the area may feature Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, among others.
Further south in the region lies Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where esteemed red and white blends can be made from 13 grapes, including Cinsault, Counoise, Mourvèdre, Roussanne, Syrah and more.
“It’s in the DNA of Châteauneuf to have different varieties,” says Victor Coulon, winemaker and owner of Domaine de Beaurenard in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France. Adjusting the balance of grapes in the blend encourages winemakers to evolve alongside shifting consumer preferences and climatic conditions, he says: “It gives producers the space for creativity, and the chance to change, to move on, to adapt.”
Rhône blends have global footprints, too. Producers in California’s Central Coast, South Australia and beyond create GSM and Rhône-style wines modeled after them.
Super Tuscans
A 20th-century innovation inspired by the success of Bordeaux blends, Super Tuscans are red wines that, unlike most Italian bottlings, can be made from a wide-ranging assortment of indigenous and international grapes. They found global fame in the 1990s, when many international critics and consumers favored big, bold red wines.
Super Tuscans can be made with Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, among others. There are relatively restrained versions as well as big, bold iterations with ample fruit and oak influenceplus sky-high alcohol levels.
“It all depends on the goal, and what the winemaker wants it to taste like,” says LoGiurato. “Super Tuscans cover a lot of ground—you can find them for as little as $15, and as much as $300 or more.”
How Blending Creates Iconic Wines
A deep-pocketed collector buying cases of Sassicaia, Opus One and other prestigious labels might not be thinking about the nuances of blending, but there’s a reason why some of the world’s most prized bottles are made this way.
Historically, in many regions of Europe, wines were blended as an insurance policy against bad harvests and other agricultural anomalies, explains Coulon. After harvest, generations of winemakers noticed how blending could amplify desirable characteristics and eliminate or at least safeguard against pratfalls.
Their hard-won expertise continues to influence winemakers because, quite simply, the combinations stand the test of time.
“There’s a symphony and a synergy that makes the blend better than the elements separately,” says Coulon. Blending practices endure because they produce good results. “At the end of the day, what’s important is the quality of what’s in the bottle.”
Blending Terms to Know
Winemaking terminology varies by region and tradition, but these phrases can help you better navigate the wide world of blends.
Assemblage: Blending vinified wines before bottling. Closely associated with Bordeaux and Champagne, this term may have been coined by 17th-century Benedictine monk-turned-winemaker Dom Pérignon.
Blend: Combining fruit or vinifications to create or develop certain characteristics. This includes growing and fermenting different grapes together, blending grapes immediately or years after harvest, combining various vintages and more.
Coupage: A synonym for assemblage that sometimes has a negative connotation, when it’s used to denote a wine that was blended solely to extend quantity.
Cuvée: A catchall term with no regulated definition, a cuvée is wine made from a blend of different grapes, vineyards or vintages.
Field Blend: Wine made from a mixture of grapes grown side-by-side in a vineyard, and then picked and fermented together.
Marriage: A synonym for assemblage, a combination of wines that are blended before bottling.
Meritage: California-grown wines made with traditional Bordeaux grape blends, such as red wines featuring Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
Nonvintage: A blend of wines from different years that’s designed to create certain characteristics or embody a house style. Nonvintage winesinclude many Champagnes, Ports and sherries.