You know what? Locally, we have a poor attitude towards blends. And it’s all the fault of varietal labelling.
Over the last thirty years Australia has phased out ‘style’ labelling – using generic terms such as hock, claret or burgundy – and instead enforced the use of varietal labelling (Riesling, Merlot, Shiraz etc).
This has been a massive positive for transparency. Like the phasing out of misleading names like Hunter River Riesling. It has only been a plus for exports (clear labelling helps people understand wines). However, it has also fuelled a slavish love of singular grapes, often above region, style or anything else.
The loser, of course, is blends. Singular grape varieties have the consumer pull, and blends can be confusing. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked what grape Cabernet Merlot is, for example. And the most popular grapes at a given time get all the love, regardless of whether they fit into a blend.
For a prime example of how this plays out, look at how some Margaret River producers flipped their Sem/Sauv blends to make Sauvignon Blanc the dominant partner (because it sells better). Or leaving out the Semillon all together (to the detriment of quality). That’s just the start of the blend discrimination. The great Australian red blend – Shiraz/Cab – sits below straight Shiraz. Or producers taking Viognier off the labels of Shiraz Viognier (even though it’s still in the blend), because Viognier is too hard to pronounce and difficult to explain.
According to the LIP (Label Integrity Program), winemakers don’t actually need to nominate what grapes go into a blend. It’s only when a grape is specified that it needs to reflect what is in the bottle. So really, it’s not so much the labelling that’s an issue, but consumer perception (which then shapes what winemakers produce).
The love of single varieties also tends to make our wines less interesting. Producers know that blends don’t sell as well, and so they don’t make them, and the spice of blends is left behind.
The good news, however, is that this situation might be changing. You only have to scan some progressive wine lists to see the outbreak of unconventional, delicious light red blends from outstanding newish producers like Brave New Wine, Ruggabellus, Ravensworth, Schmolzer & Brown et al. The Basket Range gang (Lucy Margaux, Bk, Gentle Folk, Ochota Barrels et al) also love blends and they’re often unusual (and delicious).
Still, across retail shelves and online stores these wines are lumped into ‘red blends’ and lost. I do it on this website. It’s easy, and there is more than 10 times more interest in the ‘Shiraz‘ tag than in ‘Red blends‘.
Or perhaps that just signals that we’re happy with the status quo. The varieties (and varietal labelling) help decipher the infinitely confusing and occasionally contradictory world of wine.
What do you think?
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7 Comments
I’ve always been a bit dubious about white blends. A lot of them seem to be cynical exercises in rounding up all the leftovers and throwing them into the oven to see if they bake. And when they’re marketed as a ‘Field Blend’ (sounds so rustic and authentic, doesn’t it) it sets off my bullshit detector. Red blends, on the other hand, are fantastic. I personally am a sucker for a Bordeaux blend.
I’m very sceptical of lots of modern ‘field blends’ that are nothing of the sort. I spotted one recently that didn’t even come from the one ‘field’. But don’t give up on white blends – great Bordeaux blanc, in particular, can be magnificent. Ditto great Alsace blends.
Andrew, I’m surprised that Viognier is being taken off blends because the whole Clonakilla story is based around it and when it is a good blend, it turns relatively ordinary Shiraz into something special. Like some of your readers, a Bordeaux blend is my favourite red, though of course in Bordeaux you can get an 80/20 blend using one or the other varietal depending on the location, but the key is the Bordeaux terroir. I think that applies to Margaret River and Waiheke Island in NZ, where the terroir is so important for Cabernet blends, but the preference for big Aussie Shiraz by so many locals – irrespective of regional character – makes it easier for the marketers to sell. Of course, everyone is now trying to get on the ‘cool climate’ bandwagon, despite the fact that if you look at the temperature statistics, most of the locations (with a few honourable exceptions) are in fact bloody hot. In the end, if a great wine requires a bit of cross-regional blending, with a small amount of complementary grape varieties added, who really cares? What’s better – purity or perfection?
Getting into ancient history now, but when I started drinking wines in the mid 80’s, I could drink Aussie wines labelled White Burgundy or Chablis, and expect one to be full bodied, the other dry & flinty. Also Red Burgundy and Bordeaux styles were different and characteristic. Understand why that had to be changed, because of the French Winemakers’ agreed copyrights, but more difficult now to find the styles I want among Aussie wines. The French styles are still true to label, but too pricey now for this pensioner to afford the better ones…..
Peter Hook – purity or perfection is the question. What would you prefer to drink? And yes, Viognier has something of a stigma about it for some producers. Was too hard to explain for some producers (white wine, in a red?).
Peter Dane – I completely understand. It’s been intriguing to see the resurgence of light, ‘Burgundy’ style reds in recent years too.
I think we are a lot further along with Red blends than we are white blends.
While there are a lot of low end, very ordinary blends around for the more classic french varieties, I think the introduction of Iberian and Italian red varieties have perhaps freed winemakers up to experiment with blending without the judgement of the market, so wines like SC Pannell Tempranillio Touriga or Head Nouveau aren’t being judged based experiences with poor quality blends, since there isn’t much around in the Australian market.
I really enjoy a Cab Shiraz and have noted this blend being more available recently eg Barry Bros label (Jim Barry) also there are some new Shiraz Pinot blends eg Tyrrells and interestingly Shiraz Tempranillo blends that go together well eg De Iuliis and Mistletoe.