There are a number of reasons why winemakers blend varietals together to create a finished wine. Oftentimes, California winemakers create blends that are modeled after some of the greatest wines of France, particularly Bordeaux (called Meritage blends in California) and Rhone blends. But sometimes when the grapes come in during harvest it is based on a decision to make the best of the fruit that came in. Winemakers take the elements that they get from the vineyard, taste, test, taste, test, to sometimes create unique and fun blends that create a lot of buzz.
Our winemaker Bruce McGuire has been very successful in blending different varietals that unconventionally produce the deliciously easy drinker, ZCS. This blend of Zinfandel, Carignane, and Sangiovese has been done year after year, each time being comprised of different percentages of each varietal. Each piece of the puzzle adds something unique to the finished wine. And that is why we blend. I always think of those cartoonish skits of chefs in the kitchen fervently dipping, combining, dashing, and sprinkling varying amounts of different flavors into their mixing bowl before pouring into a pan to go into the oven.
Here are a couple of excerpts and the full article of an article I came across on blending (‘The More Grapes the Merrier‘). Discussions on field blends versus finishing blends help to clarify some differences in the process and objective of blending:
Not too long ago, California wine makers’ main aim was to produce single varietal wines, taking pride in labeling those wines by the type of grape used to produce it. Quite different from their French counter-parts, who labeled their wines after the region the grapes were produced in.
The French realized long ago that blending grapes together would create a finished wine that had better flavors, aromas, and mouth feel, than if that wine was produced from a single grape type. Today, New World wine producers have found that by blending certain grapes together they can improve on the finished wine, creating more desirable flavors, aromas and complexity than a single varietal wine would have.
There are a number of types of blending efforts a wine maker may choose to use. There is a field blend, which is wine that is produced from vineyards that have been planted with two or more types of grapes that will be harvested and fermented together to produce a blended wine. Ridge Vineyard’s Monte Bello Cabernet is an example of a quality field blend.
Finishing blends are the wine makers’ alchemy efforts used to create a perfect wine. Most of the wines produced in California will have had different varietals added to it to soften out tannins, extend the finish, add complexity, or to exemplify certain characteristics of the major grape that is in the blend. The great wines from Bordeaux are created by finishing blending.
See the rest of the article.
Our varietal blends (current releases as of March 2009):
2007 ZCS (Zinfandel, Carignane, and Sangiovese), 13.00
2005 Grenache Syrah, 22.00
** side note, unless a wine is labelled as 100% of the bottled varietal, small amounts of other grapes by law are allowed to be blended in. A wine can be bottled as a single varietal is that varietal makes up 75% or more of the blend.
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
After three decades of wine growing in Santa Rita Hills, Pierre Lafond and winemaker Bruce McGuire are still experimenting with unconventional varieties in this very cool growing region.
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