Blends
Intro to Red Grapes, Wines and Their Uses
Ok, class.
Today we will cover wine blending, or at least a preliminary introduction.
To do so, we should cover grape characteristics and basic farm economics first.
When I began, it was a mystery to me how the French approached wine blends. I thought it was some kind of ESP of wine aromas, flavors and colors.
Au contraire.
If you do not farm, such things are not obvious.
The facts are these.
Different grape types (called varietals) each bear their own habits of growth and life cycle. In general, between August and November, it is possible to bin grape types into three temporal categories.
Those that ripen early. Those of the middle harvest season, and those that mature late.
Although this discussion concerns primarily reds, a few comments about white wine grapes are in order.
In general whites mature and are harvested early. The reasons (and exceptions) will be elaborated in a subsequent post as this time, we will focus on reds.
Early…
Grapes require sunlight to mature, and reds with dark pigments, scale with time exposure to sunlight.
Light red grapes (and wines with less tannin and pigmentation) come in early. Very dark grapes with massive quantities of pigment (and sugar, the precursor to alcohol) may be among the last to ripen.
These, of course, are generalizations.
Let us think in terms of color, alcohol, acids, grape skin thickness and sunlight.
In this early season time frame, we can throw pinot noir, a thin-skinned northern (hence, requiring less sun), high acid varietal.
Middle…
Likewise, but a little later in the season is merlot. And of course, perhaps the best dark grape grown successfully in Virginia, cabernet franc.
Late…
Finally, late grapes include dark, richly pigmented, flavorful gapes like petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon.
Why not plant grapes that all come in at the same time?
Easy answer is: go try a harvest, Pilgrim.
If all the work is concentrated into a very small time frame, a vintner has his hands too full to do any grape justice. Better to spread things out so there is a moderate influx of fruit to vinify from August through November.
If grapes are spread out, fewer very expensive fermentation tanks are required because by the time the late grapes are ready, the early ones have completed fermentation and the tanks (or bins) are clean and available.
There is also the farmer’s wisdom and appreciation of seasonal weather. Better not to put all one’s eggs in one basket, so to speak.
If the weather is too cold, too hot and humid or stormy early on and the grapes are lost due to mold or hail, having a later ripening grape spreads out the risk of losing everything.
So, it is good to have a spread of maturity and ripening times over the entire harvest season.
Let us take a few reds.
[Your homework assignment will be to go to the local grocery and buy one each small box wine of merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot (if available), and cabernet sauvignon. Malbec is also useful although not important for these blends. Put a few good long stem wine glasses on the counter (preferably from Riedel) and begin taste-testing various combinations and permutations until you find one blend you personally like…]
Merlot and cabernet franc come in mid-harvest. Cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot come in late.
…
Along with different biological timing of maturity, these different reds are chemically unique.
Grapes with a serious and distinctive gustatory backbone include both merlot and cabernet sauvignon. A varietal with a fairly continuous spectrum of tannins and high color is petit verdot, used in the same way a cook uses food coloring, to add depth of color to a blend.
Tannins are another factor.
These are more a physical sensation (silk vs sandpaper) than a taste.
But more on tannins later.
Cabernet franc has both a lower level of color (anthocyanins) as well as a low level of tannins.
If cabernet sauvignon is too heavy for you, try cabernet franc. You will not be disappointed if the label reads Cheval Blanc, or if it comes from Virginia.
…
It is nearly impossible, for me at least, to just taste developing barrels of different varietals and know what to blend with what.
I figure the French know what they are about with red wine blends, and so I use their basic recipe as a starting point.
Cannot go further without a little geography, and some geology.
What?
The Bordeaux region in the southwest corner of France, may be the premier real estate in the world for making red wines.
Imagine two different rivers called the Garonne and the Dordogne, mingle together in an estuary down stream called the Gironde.
Imagine further, if you will, the geology and hence the soil on the opposing side of the estuary are significantly different. After all, a waterway cuts into the earth over evolutionary time for a physical reason, right?
One side or bank, has a high content of small rocks and gravel. By contrast, the other has a high clay content.
Why does this matter?
Different grape varietals have a preference, either for wet “feet” or for dry “feet”.
Gravel loses water easily; high clay-content soils retain water.
Case in point: some grapes like (i.e., grow more easily to maturity each year) gravel. Others, clay.
It is more obvious to the Frenchman than the American, that when discussing rivers, one always faces downstream. To the Yank, right and left are indistinguishable. I am offering you this hint free of charge: you will not find it in a textbook.
Herein lies the secret of Left Bank vs Right Bank designations.
On the Left Bank of the estuary Gironde, cabernet sauvignon is happiest. On the right bank, merlot.
No surprise then, that Left Bank Bordeaux is heavily weighted toward cabernet sauvignon. And, you guessed it, in Right Bank Bordeaux wine, expect a wallop of merlot.
The nitty gritties, in order to preserve interest, will be the subject of the next talk.
Quiz on Tuesday, y’all….