To blend or not to blend?

I often have my customers tell me “I really like this blend, is that OK?”, or “I think I’ve been finding more blends that I like lately”. As if single vineyard or single varietal wines are inherently more desirable. Sometimes they are, often they aren’t. We’re seeing more and more vineyard designated Pinots here locally and some of the more well established ones certainly do offer their unique “terroir” You’ve probably heard that word but if not here’s a simple definition: terroir is the sum of the vineyard factors (rootstock, clone(s), soil, aspect (sun exposure), rainfall, air circulation, etc.) that over time impart a specific profile to the wines coming from that vineyard.

Blending offers the winemaker the opportunity to make a more complex, well-balanced wine than might be possible with a single vineyard. For instance, if one site produced riper flavors but lacked essential acidity to make a balanced wine, grapes from another site that has higher natural acidity can offset that deficiency resulting in a wine with better balance. Similarly, the flavor profile of a particular vineyard (in a particular vintage) may be rather monotonic and the addition of grapes from another parcel may round out the profile offering greater depth and complexity.

Not every barrel from a vineyard produces the same wine either. When a winemaker evaluates the barrels they will often select the best barrels to represent that particular single-vineyard bottling and blend the remainder with similar barrels from other sites to generate their “Estate” bottling or some other more generic label.

The same issues exist with multi-varietal blends (Bordeaux blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, or Rhône blends of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, etc.). One varietal may not offer the depth and complexity that can be achieved by blending more than one type of grape. That’s the essence of it. Blending provides the mechanism for a winemaker to make the best wine possible from the available resources.

There is another kind of blending too. In Champagne most of the bubbly is produced as NV (non-vintage) designated wine and only in the best years are vintage dated Champagnes produced. Why? The vineyards in Champagne are so far north that it is not possible to get ripe fruit in every vintage and only when the conditions are favorable and the grapes ripen sufficiently that vintage dated Champagnes are made. Otherwise stocks from multiple vintages are blended to make the house style and the best Champagne winemakers achieve an amazing level of consistency.

All that said, it is enjoyable to taste wines from a single great vineyard year-in year-out and experience what happens in different vintages, gaining familiarity with the effects of climate on the resulting wines.