Not just to blend, but what to blend? That is the question fueling wine’s most important (and stealthy) trend…
Wines made from multiple grapes are as old as the hills. Or at least they’ve been around as long as European hillsides have been peppered with vines. Think of Côtes-du-Rhône’s holy trinity of Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre; Bordeaux, anchored by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; or Chianti and Rioja, both of which showcase a leading grape with supporting players.
But now consider RED, the new $10ish 2002 table wine from Sonoma’s St. Francis winery. With its mix of four far-flung grapes–Zinfandel, Merlot, Grenache and Sangiovese–it’s a veritable kitchen-sink wine. Does it taste like those grapes? Well, yes and no. RED delivers a ripe berryish burst, a slap of spicy oak, fullish body and a texture that’s mouthfilling without rough edges. Think of it as a fruit grenade, rather than a bomb, with no single grape dominating.
St. Francis’ RED is only the latest example of a trend that is turning the notion of grape-blending on its head. Other unorthodox red blends within spitting distance of $9.99 range include Red Truck, Rosso, Syrage, Big House Red, YN, Jest Red and REDS, to name a few. The movement has international legs as well, with serious entries at higher price points, but before we get carried away listing lots of wines and all their wacky grapes, it’s important to step back and grasp why this trend is at once so revolutionary and so&stealthy.
What connects these wines is really the concept. For once, wine is not about the vineyards, and not even about the grapes. It’s all about style: juicy, ripe and textured like a firm pillow, these wines beckon “Drink me now!” It’s also about originality: these wines are not imitations of European models, à la Meritage or “Rhône Ranger” wines. Indeed, what sets these new-wave wines apart from Old World classics is that the formulae are driven by creativity, not agricultural pragmatism.
Back in the day, if you will, grapes that didn’t grow in the same zip code wouldn’t end up in the same bottle. But hey, this is the 21st century! More grapes grow well in more places; plus, technology has made moving grapes and juice much easier&and therefore more tempting. Aping European blends to produce Meritage or Rhône-style blends made a lot of sense back in the 1980s and ’90s after winemakers had gotten a handle on what component varieties would show when bottled singly. And it still does. But shifting from imitation to innovation is a natural next step. Factor in the overload of varietally-designated wines fighting for shelf space and it’s no wonder that vintners are trying to teach old grapes new tricks.
Today’s outside-the-box blenders are closer to mad scientists than farmers. Or perhaps they’re more like chefs, melding ingredients from diverse cultures, creating recipes–recipes for wine–that are evocative yet brand new. Fusion cuisine may represent the most apt cultural comparison, but at least on a subconscious level, new-fangled wine blends are also connected in spirit to shabby chic, crossover music, graphic novels, even docudramas, cellphone-cameras and hybrid cars.
Under the Radar
So why isn’t everyone talking about these hip new blends around the Pinot Grigio cooler? A few very fundamental (if not exactly obvious) reasons:
- The movement is unwieldy, encompassing wines at all price points, from all over the world, from minor and major grapes, in quantities that run the gamut
- Odd blends are cropping up independently, without PR and industry confabs
- Thanks largely to 1 and 2, Robert Parker and Wine Spectator have not (yet) anointed the trend, even though exemplary blends have received solid scores (e.g., Bacio Divino, Lewis Cellars “Alec’s Blend“, Swanson “Alexis”, Duckhorn “Paraduxx” …)
- Cross-genre blends aren’t getting grouped together on shelves and wine lists because they still fit more naturally into grape or regional contexts
Walk in to your friendly neighborhood fine wine shop and you’ll find new-wave blends all over the store–literally. As Katherine Moore, general manager of Union Square Wines in Manhattan, explains, “We group first by region, and then by dominant varietal.” It doesn’t really make sense to place oddball blends together–they still have more in common with their same-region, similar-grape peers. So Cline “Red Truck” winds up near California Rhône varietals; SuperTuscans get placed over in the Italy section near Brunellos and Chiantis; Aussie Cab-Shiraz blends are sandwiched in the Oz section, and so on.
s Considering all the stimuli confronting shoppers via labels alone (place names, grape names, proprietary names, vineyard names&), it makes sense to keep multi-grape blends near their next-of-kin. So, crazy combos may forever be relegated to separate corners of stores. But my contention is that there is much to be discovered by thinking about these wines as dots waiting to be connected.
The Style is the Substance
“We knew what we wanted this blend to look and taste like before we started blending,” says Charlie Tsegeletos, winemaker at Cline Cellars. “We wanted deep color and good fruit with noticeable but not heavy-handed tannin. Also, we wanted the oak well in the background so that it didn’t obscure the other elements of the wine.” The final blend was developed through a series of blind tastings (involving employeed from departments as far-flung as sales, human resources and finance) comparing sample blends against other reds that were doing well in the market helped. “It took about six months and a dozen blends before we gave the Red Truck the thumbs up,” Tsegeletos notes.
But here’s the real trick with Red Truck. The 2002 debut combined Syrah, Mourvedre, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Pinot Noir and Alicante Bouschet. The current vintage, 2003, has Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cab Franc and Merlot. Next year’s model will be Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Mourvedre and traces of Barbera, Alicante Bouschet, Zinfandel and Carignane. Sounds like Alphabet Soup wine! Or an exotic field blend from the turn of the 20th century. But have no doubt: it is straight from the lab and so driven by style that it doesn’t really matter which grapes are along for the ride each year.
And, as proof the blending has been berry berry good to Cline, consider this: they have come out with a pair of siblings for Red Truck red and white: Oakley Four Whites and Oakley Five Reds. Tsegeletos says the Oakley Red has a much higher percentage of Zinfandel, so the wine has more of a raspberry/strawberry character, and it is given more obvious wood (25% new French oak) than the Red Truck. No doubt the final blend for the Oakleys will also be a moving target from year to year.
Can Europe Play Along?
Imagine that Thierry, in Bordeaux, has a little primo Cabernet Sauvignon left over after the assemblage of his Médoc, and his cousin Pierre, over in Crozes-Hermitage, has a little surplus Syrah. Could these cousins put their cuvées together? Mais oui&but only as vin de table. Might as well label it Kiss of Death. Tradition rules in France, and when it comes to experimenting, the French Appellation d’Origine Controlée system remains the winemaking equivalent of handcuffs.
By contrast, the Italians figured out a way to let progress happen. back in the 1970s, some Tuscany’s top producers began skirting the established rules, notably by blending French red grapes with the native Sangiovese. The success of such “Super Tuscans” as Antinori’s Tignanello bred plenty of imitators. Rather than allow these exemplary wines to languish as “vino da tavola,” the Italians amended their regulations to allow a new designation: Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT), signifying simply that a wine’s grapes were grown in the indicated area.
While the IGT moniker is practically generic (it can apply to a 100% Merlot as readily as a blend), it recognizes implicitly that good things happen when producers can grow and blend exactly what they want to. And as a result, freedom to blend in Italy has opened the gate for wines ranging from humble everyday bottlings to rare collectibles. Excellent examples include the quaffable Falesco “Vitiano” (equal parts Cabernet, Merlot and Sangiovese), the cellar-worthy Argiano “Solengo” and the sublimely ridiculous Chaos (a pricey “Super Marche” crafted from Montepuciano, Syrah and Merlot).
Over in Spain, the laws have not been revised significantly, but producers are following the Italian path more than the French, with the native Tempranillo often serving as the axis around which other grapes are introduced. Osborne has dedicated a whole winery in the Castilla region to its “Solaz” brand.” The first release, an 80/20 blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet that debuted with the 1999 vintage, is tangibly riper and fresher than traditional Rioja wines. The brand-new Tempranillo-Syrah combo in the works can hold its own against wines priced twice as much.
Spain’s blending ways have only just begun. Another interesting vino tinto I sampled recently was the $10.99 Proyecto 4 (“Project 4”), a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Tempranillo 32%, Monastrell (Mourvèdre) 13% and Garnacha (Grenache) 7%. Clearly a designer wine, its back label calls the wine “a sumptuous blend of 4 harmonious grape varietals from 4 of Spain’s premier Mediterranean wine regions, all aged for 4 months in new French and American oak.” [http://cabernetcorp.com/p4.htm]
Laely Heron, a San Francisco-based negociant whose eponymous label is known for great bang-for-buck varietals from both California and France, has her sights set on Spain now. Watch for Sexto (Spanish for “Sixth”), featuring six grapes: Grenache, Carignan, Tempranillo, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and the ancient variety Lledoner Pelut Noir, all from the emerging Terra Alta region in Catalonia (only 13 km from Piorat). “This is very much a traditional, original wine&with a decidedly modern twist,” says Heron. “Spain is such a huge opportunity. I feel like a pioneer on the edge of a big, exciting new adventure. I’m dealing with 60-year-old vines, great climate, and no other Americans in sight. It’s a blast.”
Speaking of wines by number, here’s another I can’t wait to try: the 2001 Fourplay No. 1, the first release from a collaboration between the Tuscan estate Dievole and the Sicilian vintner Saro di Pietro. The provocative name refers, ahem, to the blending of equal parts of four native Sicilian grapes: Frappato Nero, Nerello Cappuccio, Nerello Mascalese and Nero D’Avola.
Meanwhile, back in France, the good news is that rich, ripe Syrah-Grenache-Cab blends are alive and well in southern areas, where fine weather lets these seemingly opposed grapes join forces in vineyard and bottle. Mas de Gourgonnier’s “Reserve du Mas” Reserve Du Mas (Les Baux de Provence AOC) is one excellent example. Languedoc is the region to watch here, as an abundance of quality vineyards has drawn some high-profile players into the region. For example, Jean-Michel Cazes, owner of Bordeaux’s famous Chateau Lynch-Bages, has just released a trio of wines under the “Circus” label, including a Cabernet-Shiraz. When an old-guard French producer taps the Aussie term for Syrah, tides are definitely shifting!
Blends Have More Fun
Interestingly, while unscripted blends may seem more complicated than the average wine, the exact opposite is true. The sheer novelty of the blend trumps all those other devilish details–terroir, barrels, clones, soil, climate, vintage and so on. Plus, people get it: combos can be more interesting than single varietals.
It also doesn’t hurt that so many of the proprietary names attached to these oddball blends are openly playful. Witness: Belvedere “Jest Red” (now accompanied by Jest White and Jest Pink), BV’s “Beauzeaux,” Folie à Deux’s “Ménage à Trois,” Gundlach-Bundschu’s “Bearitage,” and Charles Back’s “Goats Do Roam” from South Africa–not to mention a slew of nifty monikers from Australia. In the current crowded wine market, a sense of humor is more likely than ever to gain attention and earn affection (but why drag Fourplay into this?)
Other crazy-blend names I’ve enjoyed over recent years: Abbot’s Table, The Prisoner, The Libertine, Optimus, Ommagio, Hoo Doo Red, Sorcery, Cinergi, (Con)fusion, The Red Less Traveled, Sasso Rosso, Mano Nero, Nero Misto, Maximus, The Purple Gang, Bramble Bump Red, Tractor Shed Red, Old Vine Red, Old Patch Red, Ol’ Pa’s Claret, Rolando’s Rosso, Fait Accompli, Vesuvius, House Wine, Habitat, Centine, Summus, Cum Laude, One, Due Uve, Triad, Evolution #9, Conundrum, Basa, Blancaneaux, Lyric, Pointe Blanc, Zhone, Zingiovese, Zinamour, Zavala, Siena, Firebreak, Roxy Red, Pleaides, Zyrah, Wild Thing, WB, Bodog Red, Picasso’s Cat, Immensum, The Lucky Country, Urban Oak, Big Red Tattoo, Les Hérétiques, Truth&.
While the art of creative blending has blossomed in recent years and inspired many fanciful proprietary names, the trend itself has eluded formal definition. This is not surprising. No matter how much attitude they share, blends from different regions using different grapes and designed for different price points and styles will always be a mixed bag. Besides, what would we call the genre? Some candidates:
· Hip-Hop Wines (as in wines with a new beat) · Fusion Wines (hey, it worked for food&) · Zen Blends (many grapes, one wine&ommmm) · Kitchen Sink Blends (who knows what’s in there!) · Melting Pot Wines (good things happen to diverse grapes) · Mutt Wines (beats Mongrel Wines and Bastard Blends) · Desperate House Wines (wacky blends are what happen when grapes fool around) · Grapes Gone Wild! (a party in every bottle) · Blend-O-Rama Wines (everyone can play!) · Frankenstein wines? (it came from the lab&) Personally, I think Splendid Blendeds works–with a nod to Cecil DeLoach, who made “Splendo Blendo” a few years back, and now is making The Tillerman (Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Cabernet Franc 27%, Sangiovese 16%) under his new Hook & Ladder label.
Bottom line: expect more of the unexpected in the way of new blends reaching our shelves and wine lists. Ultimately, experimentation on the winery end invites experimentation at the uncorking end. The rewards of this trend–wines whose sum is greater than their parts–can be well worth the curious wine lover’s aim.
W. R. Tish, a freelance epicurean writer and speaker based in Westchester, NY, creates wine events and publishes a free “WineFlash” newsletter through his website www.wineforall.com. He can be reached at [email protected].