It was always the habit of the great wine makers of Bordeux to blend their grapes to make their wine for a simple reason; to produce a dependable product. Changing weather conditions year to year would favor one varietal over another, so grapes would be selected to balance out the blend and play to their strengths.
Of course some of the great houses are unwilling to push that as far, so that is why some labels skip vintages; the grapes just didn’t measure up and the blend they would have had to use would have skewed the flavors too far in an uncharacteristic direction.
In the Napa and Sonoma Valley the tradition of blending has evolved along its own odd pathways due to the unique nature of the place. Our micro-climates allow dramatically different varietals to thrive just a short truck ride away. This allows wine makers to mix grapes from distinctly different climates together.
The other day I was touring in the Sonoma Valley and my clients were tasting at Chateau St Jean in the reserve room. Some of the wines were composed of the same varietals pulled from very diverse sources. I’ve seen this in Napa too, Cabernets sourced from Mt Veeder, Atlas Peak and Howell Mountain, all in the same tank.
I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this, after all the Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena that won at the 1976 Judgement of Paris was drawn from vineyards in Sonoma’s Alexander and Russian Valleys, and Napa’s Oak Knoll district. These are three very different flavor signatures, but they won and put Napa on the map (even though most of the grapes were from Sonoma).
What is lost with this kind of blending is a sense of place. One of the big differences between the American wine makers and the Italian is that the former is concerned with how the wines taste, while the later is concerned with how the wines make you feel. Italian wines are designed to go with food, low alcohol, high acid, and lots of sharp tannins in the reds. Quite the reverse of the California wines where food is often an after thought.
The other characteristics of the Italian wines is a strong sense of place. We think of Terroir as a French concept, but the Italian Territorio is well respected tradition. The flavor of that vineyard is in the bottle and when you drink it you visit that locale. In Italy where people drive out to the country to fill their jugs at their favorite cooperative, everyone has a favorite, a place that’s special, and that preference is passed through the generations because its the flavors of home.
I’m not saying that wine makers should not experiment, but as a person who loves to travel I relish a bottle of wine as a portal that leads me to a charming place where the vines turn the sunshine into magic in a bottle.
Ralph de Amicis
www.AmicisTours.com
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