Blends - Day 5

I'm finally feeling better and a kidney infection is nowhere in sight!  One can only guess what that means... that's right, I'm drinking again.  Tonight I opened my bottle of House Wine that I wrote about purchasing a couple of days ago.  After letting it air out for a while, several hours, it was finally ready for consumption.  Before it had time to breathe, the after taste was very acidic and lingered for far too long.  However, once the wine was ready to drink, it had a great balance of taste while in the mouth and following the swallow into the after taste.  I'm going to attempt to tell you all what I smell and taste in this wine even though I'm more of an experienced wine drinker and not necessarily an experienced "Wine Taster."  Here it goes.

"Stretch... knuckle pop..."  It smells earthy like dirt, and jammy like plums and blackberries.  I taste slight acidity like blood orange as well as black cherry and maybe some black currant too.

Now that the tasting is out of the way and I've survived, here's what I've learned about blends today.  A blended wine is made from more than one grape and/or vintage.  The basic idea behind the method of blending is that you can put together several different grapes to find a perfect balance for liquid enjoyment.  Each grape separately has its own flaws and excellence due to the vintage or grape type, soils etc. and by blending these different grapes from different vineyards or vintages, you can hone in on the perfections to make the best wine possible.  In my opinion, blends are better than pure wines.  Not that pure wines are bad... but I almost feel like they are naked or unprotected in a way that opens them up to noticeable imperfections while they are being consumed.

Champagne is a perfect example of blending for perfection, however, we are talking about Cabernet Sauvignon Blends tonight!  Champagne is for another day.  "In Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon is most often blended with one or more of the following: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot or Malbec." Says The New Wine Lover's Companion third edition.  It also says that "In Australia, there is a predilection to blend Cabernet Sauvignon with Shiraz, which is widely grown there."  Each region sort of has its own special blending method or common recipe; for example, Italy often blends Cab with Sangiovese and Spain blends its Cab with Tempranillo.  My favorite Cab blend is with Shiraz but you should try a few different blends to find your favorite.  Koonunga Hill by Penfolds makes a great Shiraz Cabernet blend that I enjoy.

There are many other blends to be enjoyed, not just Cabernet or Champagne blends.  I can't wait to discover more about the different grapes, the best blends and the very special world of blended Champagne and sparkling wines.  Stay tuned and you'll find out too.