Wine Lover: Blending versus single-varietal depends on place

There are many competing paradigms in the world of vino, and one of the most intriguing is whether winemakers should blend their wines together or bottle their wines individually by varietal.
The French are a perfect example of these different wine-making tactics. Two of the most recognizable regions, Bordeaux and Burgundy, have very different wine-making models.
In Bordeaux, you would hard-pressed to find a bottle of wine that isn’t a blend. Growers in Bordeaux harvest five different red varietals and two different white varietals, and the reds are blended together, as are the whites.
The two most prestigious red grapes are cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and the whites are sauvignon blanc and semillon. Sauvignon blanc makes a light-bodied acidic wine, and semillon is a more full-bodied, creamier, honeyed wine. The winemakers of Bordeaux believe that by blending the two, they will come away with a more complex, better-balanced wine.
Makes sense, right? Not if you’re from Burgundy.
The Burgundians never blend their grapes. They grow pinot noir and chardonnay (and a smattering of aligote, as well) and always bottle them according to place. They believe the grape is a vehicle to represent place, and they want to do everything possible to preserve the terroir. For the Burgundians, the dirt they plant their grapes in might be even more important than the grapes themselves.
Here in California, we have adopted some of these French philosophies and added a few of our own. Napa is the California version of Bordeaux, and vineyards there grow a lot of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. These wines are sometimes blended; however, they remain separate and are bottled as single varietals just as often. In Santa Cruz, it is quite common to find one winemaker who grows pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon along with other grapes and enjoys toying with many different varietals. Santa Cruz is much like Burgundy, though, because we never blend our pinot noir, and if you talk to local winemakers, they will tell you that it’s our terroir that stands out.
The truth is that one way is not superior to the other. Some grapes do well when blended, and others don’t. These are the decisions a winemaker struggles with when he or she is planting grapes or tasting wines in the cellar. Do the grapes need blending to balance one another, or should they stand alone and represent their individual time and place?
It’s just another thing that makes wine so cool. Cheers!
Austin Twohig is a certified sommelier and partner in The Santa Cruz Experience, which conducts winery tours in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Contact him at au****@th********************.com.