Blending….is like a game of chess.

As I love to play chess, I spend many night playing 5 minutes (each) games against immediately available and eager opponents in Tokyo, Seattle, Sidney, Montevideo, Des Moines etc through the ChessCube.com platform trying to improve my chess ranking, and uphill battle but it’s like an addiction and keeps the gray matter flexible, I am told….As a chess player I understood what the winemaker meant when he wanted to make a clear stating that blending wines is like playing a game of chess, one makes a move which always results in a new situation on the board and the player must wait for what the reaction will be.

Blending goes also in stages until you reach a final product when the winemaker feels the best expression of the house style; of the terroir of the estate, has been reached. Blending is actually more about the house style should be recognizable throughout the consecutive harvest, year after year, notwithstanding differences in qualities and/or quantities, as a result of good, bad or even disastrous  harvests due to for example early frosts, hail, drought, etc etc.

Blending is the process of tasting, everlasting intense tasting of all the different wines made available to the winemaker at one point in time. This does not mean that blending the best wines will create a great wine, blending is like haute cuisine, some ingredients are used and remain present but in a discrete way but other will stand out, excel and shine through distinctly.

There are many ways to blend but it is safe to say that each Chateau/wine producer have their own tactics formed through decades sometimes centuries of experiences, empiric observing, testing to find or better strike the perfect balance. Balance not only in the grape selection but also in “employing” of the right experts, equipment like presses etc., the timing, choice of cellars etc. I would like to call this the art of blending. Namely to find, to create the optimal circumstances to blend.

The process of blending starts with blind tastings as the terroirs, the grapes originated from, should be kept unknown to the tasters. As a rule tasting is done by around 4 people, not too many organized in a strict way. Too many opinions will lead to confusions. What tasters mainly ­­– roughly spoken as not to get into the nitty gritty fo the built up of different house styles, as Palmers rules of tasting are not Giscours’ – looking at is:

·         Tasting according to tannin; they look for finesse and subtlety, for example some Merlots produce a lot of it;

·         The look for complexity not power for example Cabernet Franc, it should not have a too pronounced vegetal character;

·         Cabernet Sauvignon which is often the dominant part of a blend, it should have structure, acidity and focused fruit with ripe but linear tannins.

During this process the tasters are already looking for possible combinations to work towards the house style by selecting the combinations which blend together.

First they select the Grand Vin, the second, the third blends. On average the total blending process takes two to eight hours depending on the size of the relative chateau/estate/vineyard and how many separate base wines they have made. When they have decided on the final blend, the “finished” wine is aged for a year in wooden barrels/barriques. They regularly test/taste and make intermediate changes if and when so (by consensus) required…finishing touches, if you like!

Left over wines, not any longer required for the by now required and established final blend(s) are sold into the trade or are sold for distillation (liquors, alcohol etc.)

Normally the “en primeur” tastings are in April and at that time the final blend(s) will be officially presented.

In one of the latest developments – in the wine trade, being a seasonal agricultural trade this means the last five years or so, it was permitted in the Medoc to blend up to a maximum of 15% of other, earlier years vintages to blend into the final wines. This within the existing local AOC regulations, in this example the Medoc AOC regulations. This gave quite a stir! Some will do it, other will not. I will spare the attentive readers the relative argumentations of the various participants in the never to be ended discussion, but at this point in time everybody has the freedom to do so.

This idea is not a bad development as it enables winemakers to blend different vintages which will complement each other and bring added freshness to an older vintage by adding  younger wines, this is an interesting concept and also brings an extra possibility to keep conformity in the establishment of a house style adhered to throughout the years.

The above means of course that the tastings in April are not all “en primeur” tastings any longer as older vintages might have been brought into the “mix”. On the other hand Bordeaux wines are made to age anyway so “en primeur” tasting is less important than for a commercial “en primeur” tasting of a Beaujolais made ready for immediate shipment to Japan.

Finally whilst writing this blog on the subject of blending I came across a German wine proverb:

“Wer nicht ehrt diesen Wein, verdient nicht ein Mensch zu sein”!

(One who does not honour this wine, does not deserve to be a human being)….there are some top blends which qualify under the “spirit” of this proverb and could originate from the borders of the Rhine and Mosel rivers and in my book should always be always white and young/fresh/fruity (Riesling), I am sure this choice of taste will let this “Mensch” continue to walk freely in places like Cochem and Bernkassel. Places where these days not only excellent wines are made but perfect German cuisine is also very much the talk of the town.