Wine Battle: Blends versus Varietals

A relaxing weekend of wine tasting brings up a lot of wine related questions.  We love learning about the different types of wines and what makes them so delightful.  Many wines are 100% of one type of grape, but there are also many that are blends of several grapes. Mira has both blends and varietal wines, for example our 2010 Pinot Noir is 100% Pinot Noir, while our 2009 Red Wine is 50% Syrah and 50% Cabernet Franc.

In the last few decades the word ‘blend’ has become a negative way to describe a wine.  People think that a blended wine is not as good as a varietal.  The Wine Exchange writer Allen Balik believe that this negative connotation came from a “pursuit of excellence” by the United States in the 1950s and 1960s to distinguish itself.  The general practice in the old world was to name the wine by region or producer.  This meant that a wine listed Bordeaux or Burgundy could very well by either 100% varietal or a blend, the consumer never knew.  For the U.S. to set itself apart, wines began to be labeled by the name of the grape instead, therefore making "blend" a unappealing word.  Laws have now been implemented for how one can label a wine, for example in the U.S. any varietally labeled wine must contain at least 75 percent of that varietal.

“So even varietally labeled wines can be – and often are – blends of compatible varietals but are restricted to the 75 percent rule."

Being a true single varietal wine does not mean it is better than a blend or any other varietal wine.  It is up to you as a wine taster to decide which wine you prefer, whether it is a blend of grapes or 100% varietal.  The ultimate goal of course is your enjoyment!