Mythbusters: Are Blended Wines Inferior?

Ep 156

If you’ve ever assumed that a bottle labeled “red blend” or “white blend” must be lower quality than a single varietal wine, you’re not alone. But that belief leaves out a huge part of how great wine is actually made.

In this Mythbusters episode, I’m breaking down the idea that blended wines are somehow inferior. While it’s true that some inexpensive red blends and white blends can be made with lower quality grapes, blending itself isn’t the problem. In fact, blending has been part of winemaking for centuries and is often what gives a wine its balance, complexity, and structure.

You’ll learn why winemakers blend grapes in the first place, how different grape varieties contribute things like aroma, texture, and tannin, and why even wines labeled as a single varietal often involve blending behind the scenes. We’ll also look at famous blends like GSM and Bordeaux blends and explain why those grapes work so well together.

So the next time you see the word “blend” on a wine label, you might look at that bottle a little differently after you listen to this episode!

Thank you to our exclusive sponsor, First Bottle Wines, for sponsoring this episode. Go to www.firstbottlewines.com and use code CORKANDFIZZ for 10% off your order! (And be sure to sign up for their mailing list so you never miss a bottle!)

Episode Highlights:

• Why the myth about blended wines exists
• The difference between cheap blends and quality blends
• Why blending has been used in winemaking for centuries
• How blending improves balance, flavor, and structure
• Why even single varietal wines are often blended
• What makes a GSM blend work so well
• How Bordeaux blends are structured
• What field blends are and why they were historically used
• Why blending is both an art and a science in winemaking

Transcript

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If you love discovering top-class wine at everyday prices, today's sponsor First Bottle Wines is going to be your new favorite place to shop. First Bottle Wines is a Napa-based online wine store with the same killer deals as their sister company Last Bottle, but with hundreds of bottles to explore. I'll share more later in the episode, but for now, go to firstbottlewines.com and use code CorkandFizz for 10% off. Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Haley Bollman, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle-based wine tasting business Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total cork dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. Today we are back with another episode of the Mythbuster miniseries. This is where I debunk wine myths, new and old, give you all the straight facts, plus a few of my own opinions. It's hard not to throw those in here and there, but I try to differentiate pretty clearly for you. But this is my podcast and you came here to listen to me rather than read an article about this. So I have a feeling you're all right with me throwing in a few things. Today's myth that we're gonna be talking about is that blended wines are inferior to single varietal wines. And if you're like, what the heck does that mean? Basically, you know, when you go to the store and you see something that's labeled red blend, or maybe it has a made-up name to it, or you learn that the wine is made up of multiple different grapes, you may think in your head automatically that, oh, that's not gonna be as good. As something that's just labeled Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon. And the reason this myth exists, I think, is because there are a lot of inferior wines that are labeled red blend or white blend, especially in the US. And I think this is a specific one for the US. Folks who are in Europe might not even ever think about this. I think this is a cultural thing, though. I'd be curious if you're listening outside of the US, And this is also something that you have heard before where like a blend of grapes is considered inferior to a single varietal, a single grape being used. Let me know, cause I'm, I'm curious if it's just a US thing. But as I said before, this myth kind of exists, I think similar to the sweet wine myth that I talked about earlier, and that there are some inferior wines that are just labeled red blends. And a lot of times, especially with these wines, there's a lack of transparency as to what grapes are even used in the wine. Like, if I cannot look up a wine and find out what grapes were used in it, there is going to be a few alarm bells going off in my head. Because even if, you know, if it is a blend, not a big deal, that's great. We're going to talk about all the benefits of a blended wine. But if I can't figure out what the grapes are, then I'm gonna be like, hmm. Feels like you're hiding something from me. What's going on here? And in the case of some of these red blends, especially ones you're gonna find in the grocery store, and especially $10 or less, the grapes that are used to make these wines are usually not high quality. These are oftentimes leftover grapes from somebody else making wine, or they're grapes that came from areas that are producing large quantities of grapes, but not necessarily quality. And so what's happening is that they're blending multiple grapes and possibly other additives in order to hide defects, and especially defects from the growing of the grapes. If you've ever heard a winemaker talk, they will always tell you the wine is made in the vineyard. And so if you're starting with bad grapes, you're still going to end up with a not so great wine. Some might even say a bad wine. And a lot of these do get called red blends or white blends. But I don't want those, those specific wines to taint your idea of some of what all wine blends are and what a wine blend can truly be. And again, I think this is a problem with lack of transparency and poor winemaking, not blending itself. So let's dive into the facts now. Just a quick reminder, you are not on my mailing list yet. What are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now let's get back to the show. So the fact is that blending is a time-honored tradition in winemaking and an example of how winemaking is more than just taking grapes and fermenting them. It's an art and a science. And the goal of blending isn't to hide flaws. That is not why winemakers choose to do this. It is to make the best possible wine with complexity and balance. Blending can elevate the quality of the wine. And again, I'm not saying elevate as in make something bad good. I'm saying like make something good even better, right? You gotta start with good grapes. Everything you blend into that wine has to start out good, right? And so from there, the blending enhances the quality. And so it can enhance its color, the texture, the flavor, the aromatics, and it can balance its structure. Blending makes the finished wine greater than the sum of its parts, right? So we're basically thinking about, okay, well, we had some good Grenache wine here and we had some good Syrah and some good Mouvedre. But then we put it together and it made something that like, even what each of those grapes could do on their own, they would never meet that same, just like quality and flavor and deliciousness as if you put them all together. The way that I like to compare this, I feel there's a couple comparisons, cuz again, I don't want you to think the wine started off bad. To me, blending wine, it's kind of like adding layers to a painting. If you use just one color, you could create an interesting piece of art, right? But then you add additional layers, you start adding complexity and intrigue, right? And now suddenly each layer you add really adds something to the painting. This is the same thing as in cooking food, right? Again, you could take a turkey burger or a beef burger. I don't know, I'm a weirdo that eats a lot of turkey burgers. And you can cook it on the grill, right? It'd be pretty good on its own. I've definitely been one to just take a burger and then dip it in mayo. I know you're gonna think that's also extra weird. Even that, I'm adding complexity. I'm not even just taking the burger and eating it. I'm dipping it in something, right? But then if we think about like what you truly wanna do with your burger, right? You take the burger, you put it on a bun, you add a fresh slice of tomato, some nice crunchy lettuce. You know, you're getting fancy. Maybe you add bacon or you add an over-easy egg, and you put some aioli on, which again, fancy word for mayo. We all like mayo, right? And suddenly that burger now is so much better than when it started. And it's so much better than each of its single components, right? Like a nice crispy piece of lettuce. Sure. That sounds good. And we wanna start with like a nice crispy piece of lettuce. If we started with bad lettuce, adding it to the burger doesn't really make the burger better.. We wanna have a good crispy piece. Yeah. And then as soon as we add it to the burger, suddenly everything, when it works together, is so much better. And that's what blending wine is to me. You're gonna start with good single varietal wine. It has to be good on its own, but then you're going to add it all together and it's just going to do something magical. Plus, if I haven't convinced you enough that blending doesn't just mean taking bad wine and trying to make it good, right? We are taking good wine and making it even better. Even if a wine is 100%, let's say Cabernet Sauvignon. So this is a single varietal wine. This wine could still be a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from, let's say, different vineyards harvested at different times. It could be all from the same vineyard, but maybe they vinified it and aged it in different barrels. Almost always a winemaker is going to split up the wine that they're making and put it into different barrels. And they're gonna taste each of the barrels as they ferment and as they age. And then when they create their wine at the end, even if it's all one single grape, they're still blending different versions of it together. It goes through the same blending process. So again, blending does not mean bad. This is just a part of winemaking. It's a part of the art of winemaking, and winemakers who are good at blending are the ones that make amazing wine. Now, before I share a couple of the most popular blends out there, because hopefully by now I've convinced you that blending is not a bad thing, let's go back and talk a little bit about where the history of blending came from, right? Why would we even do this? Why not just make one single wine every time? Historically, the spirit of blending actually began in the field. Nowadays, it's done primarily in the winery, but before, this was done in the field. The grapes, and lots of different types of grapes, were planted side by side, and then they were all picked together. You didn't just have one Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard or one Grenache vineyard. You had everything that grew really well in the region in this one vineyard. They were co-fermented, so it means that they were all put into either the tank or the barrel to ferment together, and they were matured. And these are called field blends. The goal of this was to spread the agricultural risk. So again, because you had lots of different vineyards all in the same area, this could help kind of guarantee against weather hazards and disease risk, where a challenging year can compromise a type of grape. Or one of the vines, but if you had lots of different types of vines in there, maybe one of them wouldn't do so well, but all the other ones could do well. The problem with doing something like this is that it is— you do have less control as a winemaker. And when you co-ferment, when you put lots of different types of grapes into a barrel to ferment together, that scientific process of fermenting will actually result in really unique flavors that you wouldn't get from fermenting each of the grapes separately and blending them at the end. You would get a wine. So while this field blend is still done today, it's just not as common for how many winemakers will blend. Nowadays, it's typically done after fermentation or even after maturing or aging of individual wines. And so, like I said before, a lot of times each of the grapes will be picked separately now. So we now kind of have vineyards of each different grape or, you know, of different vines, and then they'll pick them and then they'll ferment them separately, you know, so we'll have some Grenache. We'll have some Syrah, we'll have some Mouvedre, but they're all going to be in separate tanks. And then maybe the winemaker even chooses to put them each in different barrels, right? So we've got some Grenache in 4 barrels, some Syrah in 3 barrels, and some Mouvedre in a couple barrels. And then once those wines have aged for some time, the winemaker will go in and they will start, one, they'll taste those barrels as they go, and then they're going to come up with their blend.. And this is a really cool experience. If you ever get the chance to actually— nowadays, a lot of wineries are creating these blending classes and it's an opportunity for you to kind of like step in as the winemaker and create your own blend and see what this experience is. And you'll actually notice, and winemakers actually have to do, they have to taste the wine when they are creating these blends because that yeast smell when the fermentation is happening and everything. Can be so strong that they can't just trust aroma. They have to actually taste it and they have to try it. And so I've done a couple blending classes myself. I've done a couple red wine blending classes at Northstar over in Walla Walla. And we made, it was primarily, it was 4 different Merlots. So from 4 different vineyards, plus Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. And I've also done a white blending class. This was done in at Marjoram in, I believe that was in Santa Barbara.. And again, and this one was actually more, more variety. It was all of the white Rhône varieties. So I think it was Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Picpoul. There were like 3 others that I'm forgetting off the top of my head. But again, we started with each of the varietals that had been made into a wine. And then what you would do is you'd taste each of those, you'd get kind of an idea, and then you would take this little graduated cylinder, about 100 milliliters could fit in there. You feel like, you feel like a true scientist, and then you're going to pour the wine into certain amounts in that 100 milliliters. The reason it's 100 milliliters is because you're gonna get percentages by the end of this. And so you're gonna test out different combinations of these wines. And what's so cool, and I can say this from experience, is that just putting together like the two wines that you liked the most might not produce the best possible blend. I remember doing this with the white wines at Marjoram because they had like told us what their blend was, right? And like kind of explained it. And I was like, oh, well, I know I really love Roussanne and I really love Grenache Blanc. So maybe I'll just make it like a majority of those two things and then maybe add just like a hint of Picpoul or something. And I remember trying it and being like, oh no, this is somehow like, it's amazing how blending can create something that is better than the sum of its parts. But on the flip side, if you do a bad blend, it can be worse than the wine, just the single varietal on its own. And that is why blending is such a, it is such a skill because you can't just put like 3 good wines together and expect them to taste good. You have to do them in a certain way and you have to think about how they work together. A lot of the things you'll think about is like, okay, what are the different textures that each of these wines are bringing?, right? Some wines are gonna be more fuller bodied and have lower acidity, whereas other ones are gonna have this really bright, maybe they might even make it so that it's like overly acidic, right? But when you blend it with something, it ends up working out really well. And so when, by the time we ended up making the version of the, or I ended up making the version, my husband was also there making his blend. And honestly, I think I might have liked his more. Don't tell him that. Okay. But when we made our blends, I ended up doing like a totally different combination than I ever thought I would because it didn't have the highest amount of a grape variety that I liked the most, right? It had— it was just because I had to think about, okay, this has oily texture, this has this aroma, this has acidity. How do I want this wine to kind of like play together? It's a really fun experience. If you have any winery near you that's doing blending classes, I highly recommend checking out. It really gives you an idea of what winemakers do. So now that you kind of have an idea of how blending works, let's talk about two of the most popular red wine blends and kind of talk about why they work so well. Why are these grapes typically blended together? Today's episode is brought to you by First Bottle Wines, the sister site to Last Bottle that lets you explore way more incredible wine all in one place. If you've ever loved a bottle from Last Bottle and wished you could find more like it, that's exactly why First Bottle exists. It's where collectors and everyday drinkers go to find their favorites for less. First Bottle is run by the same Napa-based buying team who tastes over 50,000 wines a year, which means everything you see from legendary producers to hidden gem daily drinkers has already been vetted by the pros. And because they source directly from wineries and importers, the prices are often far below retail. I love that it feels like a real wine lover's shop. Tons of options, great vintages, and bottles for everything from a Tuesday night pasta night with the girls to a dinner party with your in-laws that you need to impress. There's no fluff, no gimmicks, just remarkable wine chosen by experts, plus free shipping when you buy 6 bottles or more. So head to firstbottlewines.com and use code corkandfizz for 10% off your order. And have fun browsing because this site is dangerous in the best way. So the first one is called a GSM. This stands for Grenache Syrah Mouvedre. You'll notice I use these as examples a lot just because they're commonly blended together. This is the main blend of what's called a Rhône blend. Rhône Valley is a region in France. So this is where, again, historically it started as a field blend of just all the grapes that grew really well there. And now they've started actually fermenting each of the grapes separately and then blending them afterwards. But a Rhône blend can have up to 19 grapes. This is a red Rhône blend that we're talking about, but interestingly enough, it can actually include white grapes too. But we're gonna focus just on like the main component of it, which is a GSM. And a lot of times this blend is made outside of the Rhône Valley. You'll see areas in the US, you'll see areas in Australia or South Africa making a GSM blend, and that's typically what they'll call it or what they'll explain it as. And so again, made up of 3 grapes, we have Grenache, also called Garnacha, Syrah, also called Shiraz, and Mouvedre, which can be called Monastrell. I know, confusing, right? But good news, they all still start with GS and M, so it's always gonna be a GSM blend. So Grenache, what does this provide to the wine? This is the lightest of the three wines. So on its own, Grenache is a pretty light red and it's pretty low in tannins. In terms of aroma and flavor, we're going to get some candied fruit, raspberry, cinnamon, maybe even something kind of bitter, like a red grapefruit. Now, typically for this blend, you're going to have the most amount of Grenache, believe it or not. And the reason for this is that it has higher alcohol and it adds to this long, finish, and it has like these really just traditional, nice red wine flavors. Like I mentioned, that candied fruit, the raspberry, the cinnamon. Now the Syrah, when we're adding in the Syrah to this, we're gonna get some darker fruit flavors. That's like blueberry, plum, also some savoriness like olive, black pepper, meatiness. Now Grenache has a long finish, but Syrah has a nice, like lots of upfront flavor and this boldness., but it lacks an aftertaste. Good news. We've got Grenache in our blend, so that's going to help us with the aftertaste. Syrah is going to help us right out of the front, give us some good, good flavor. And of course our Grenache has that higher alcohol. The good news is Syrah might not have a lot of aftertaste, but it helps provide a softer finish to our wine. So it kind of smooths out that like tingle of the Grenache from the alcohol. And finally, Mouvedre. This is going to likely be used in the lowest amount. It is the most savory. Of the three grapes, it has a lot of, again, rich black fruit, but then like this gaminess, sometimes even tar, which doesn't sound good. Again, it's not like you're eating tar, it's just the smell of it. And also black pepper. And this one again has a really persistent finish. So a lot of times a really high quality wine has these really nice flavors that last for a long time after you've had a sip. The Mouvedre will also help add tannin structure, so we get some bitterness. Plus some aging potential, right? And so each of these things provide something specific to the blend, and it's why they work well together. Another famous red blend is the Bordeaux red blend. And again, this one's inspired— it may also be called a Meritage in some areas. This is inspired by the Bordeaux region of France, a Bordeaux AOC wine, specifically a red that can include up to 10 different grapes. But the key ones in a Bordeaux blend are going to be Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. So thinking about each of these, Cabernet Sauvignon, we're going to get a lot of body. It's going to be nice, rich. We're going to get some herbal character, and it's going to be a lot of the mid-palate, right? So we're kind of covering the middle of the sip. Then we get some Merlot, similar to Cabernet Sauvignon, but maybe a little more cherry fruit, and the tannins aren't as lengthy. They're kind of more like A little more prickly, like, like quick and sudden. Then the Cabernet Franc. So Cabernet Franc is leaner. It's more savory. When, when Cabernet Sauvignon has some herbal characteristics, Cabernet Franc has even more, and it has a longer finish. So while the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot are going to bring us that mid-palate texture, Cabernet Franc is going to help lengthen that flavor out. So we continue to get some really good flavors. Then we got Malbec, right? We need something upfront on the first bit of the sip to give us something good. That's gonna give us this upfront, like I always call it like a fruit bomb. Like it just really provides a lot of good flavor right away on the sip and a lot of black fruit. And then finally, what's used in really small amounts, and you'll be amazed at like even just 3, 4, 5% of a grape, like of the wine being one grape variety, does make an impact. So Petit Verdot is used in those really small amounts. Usually it adds some floral notes. It makes it a darker color, which for the longest time apparently has been a really good thing. I don't know if that's really a thing anymore, but anyway, for your Bordeaux blend, if you want to be darker, Petit Verdot. And it adds tannin again. So a lot of that structure and a lot of making the wine really age-worthy. Now again, there are lots of blends that are famous out there. You've probably drank a wine that was a blend and might not have even noticed it. In terms of traditional blends, right, there are blends all over the world now, and I love it, and I think it's so fun that it's experimental and they're putting things together that they might not have tried in the past. But there are plenty that are super traditional, and like I said, you might not have realized it. Things like white Bordeaux, right? So we talked about the red, but white Bordeaux, this is the wine that's made out of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc primarily, plus a little bit of Muscadelle. Then you have Champagne. If you've ever had this sparkling wine, there is a chance that it was a blend. Not every one of them is, but a champagne can be made out of a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir. One of the biggest blends of the world, if you've ever had a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, also called CDP, this wine I think is the one that has like the most amount of varieties that can be added to it. But just like, I think for like the main ones, we're looking at Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre, Berblanc, Cinsault, Clairette Blanche, Counois, Grenache Blanc, Muscardine, Picardine, Picpoul Blanc, Roussanne, Terre Noire, and Vaccaresse. Yeah, all of those grapes can go into a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. If you ever get a chance to try it, it is just the coolest thing of how all these grapes can work together to make a really beautiful wine. And then going back to another sparkling wine, Cava out of Spain. Is generally a blend of 3

indigenous grapes to Spain: 24:18

Macabeo, Pareada, and Xarello. And Xarello. So again, these are super common, you know, historical blends, and they've always been that way, and they've made great wine. So whenever anybody tells you that, you know, they don't want to try a blend because it's not as good as a single varietal, just remind them that blends are a part of the history of wine. And it truly is an art in winemaking, and it doesn't always mean that it is an inferior wine. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, you know what to do. Take a quick second, rate it, leave a review. You can do that on Apple Podcasts. I believe you can rate it on Spotify as well, or probably wherever you're listening to it. I just know the reviews typically end up on Apple. And of course, if you know a wine lover in your life, please share it with them. And if you'd like to show additional support for the show, you can become a paid subscriber. Click the link in the show notes and become a monthly supporter for $10 or less a month. You'll get a shout out in the next episode I record. Plus, if you choose $10 per month, you'll get to choose a topic for a future episode. Now, in next week's episode, I have a feeling you might not like me very much, but I'll be talking about why it's a myth that red wine is healthy. Don't worry, I'm not about to tell you you're a bad person for drinking wine. I love drinking wine. So this isn't to like deter you, but it's just to provide the facts on— I just want you to know why people think it's healthy, what are some of the benefits that could come from wine, but also why it shouldn't replace like eating a healthy diet if that's what you're interested in. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, come follow me @CorkandFizz on Instagram. Cheers!