Red Blend

Red blends have been around much longer than single varietal bottlings. Single varietals are largely an American marketing innovation, created and promoted to distinguish our wines from French wines, which have always been blended.

In earlier times, each vineyard contained a number of varietals in differing amounts, and whatever was in the vineyard ended up in the bottle,. In fact, some of the oldest vineyards in America continue this practice, resulting in a bottling called a field blend.

But blending is not confined to the vineyard. In fact, blending is considered to be the true art of the winemaker. The goal is to arrive at a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts -- to transcend varietal expression and create a distinctive wine that incorporates the finest elements of its component parts without speaking with one dominant voice. Blending is the only way to create a truly layered, complex flavor profile.

Bordeaux and Rhone varietals in particular lend themselves to blending, but in fact any red grape variety may be blended with another to create a distinctive taste.