Wine Blends Part 1: The Law and Cabernet
Wine blends are a confusing topic within the wine world. This is one of the areas that I think both makes wine confusing to consumers, and points out a lot of interesting complexities about wine when you peel back the layers.
This is Part 1 of a two part series on wine blends. This blog post will speak from a consumer perspective, discussing the background and controversy of blends, plus some interesting data related to single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. The second blog post will dive into to the winemaker and winery perspective based off an interview I did of Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards about the Monte Bello wine, arguably one of the most iconic wine blends.
So first, what is a blend?
Blends refers to the use of multiple grape varietals in a single wine. The alternative is that a wine is a single varietal wine. The simplest way to know if a wine is made of a single grape or multiple is by the label — does it say “Cabernet Sauvignon” or does it say “Bordeaux”, “Red Blend” or “Meritage” (all legitimate names for that style of wine when produced in the US).
I’d break wine blends into three major areas:
Old World Blends: blends made in Europe and are named by place rather than by grape. This works in Europe because of two reasons:
- Legal entities exist to enforce stylistic requirements by place so that the wines follow generally the same profile. Some legal entities even specify the ranges of % of each varietal in the blend.
- Consumers are more familiar with the “wine by place” concept and trust it.
New World Blends: wines that include multiple grapes and are named by places, their european counter-part, creative concepts or even just called “Red Blend”.
New World “Single Varietal Blends”: wines that are labeled single varietal, but only because they follow the 75% law that exists in the US. They still include multiple grapes and can vary immensely in style than if there were truly only one grape in the wine.
Now let’s talk about why “Single Varietal Blends” exist.
First, let’s start with the laws that allow wineries to put one grape on the label. The TTB is the legal organization that governs many things in the wine world, including packaging and labeling. According to the TTB, a wine is legally allowed to be called Cabernet Sauvignon as long as it contains no less than 75% of that grape. In Europe, similar laws exist for wines that don’t fall under a stricter requirement (there are many layers of strict laws in Europe), and that percentage is 85%. However, this law isn’t applicable very often in Europe because very rarely do wineries want to label their wine by varietal.
In the US though, this law is pushed to its limits — you’ll find “Pinot Noir” wines with 24% of something else in it. Some regions have contemplated enforcing stricter legislation, but so far Oregon is the only region — with a 90% requirement on its pre-defined “core set of grapes”.
How common are “Single Varietal Blends” and how can you tell?
As Wine Nerds do, we wanted to get a sense of this trend from data. So we collected a sample of 60+ “single varietal” cabernet sauvignon wines from a variety of producers across the West Coast. Our sample consisted of wineries that are known to make some of the best Cabernet, and some of the most widely purchased Cabernet. The price points vary significantly, from $5 — $500. Now, the way to tell what grapes a wine actually contains is to look up their technical sheets listed on their websites. We did this for our entire sample of wines, and recorded what percent of cabernet, as well as what other grapes were included in the wine if it was a blend.
As you can see, 68% of wines sampled were actually blends. And some of the wines are quite close to the 75% rule — although the percent of cabernet varies quite a bit. There are both some very notable wines like Duckhorn and some mass produced wines like Kendall Jackson that are labelled “Cabernet Sauvignon” but actually include some other varietals in the wine.
How do “Single Varietal Blends” hurt consumer trust?
The biggest argument of why “single varietal blends” are bad is because of transparency to the consumer — which is particularly for consumers newer to wine that are trying to understand grapes and what kind of wines they like. The huge variance introduced by adding 25% of another grape results in wines tasting wildly dissimilar, even though they are labeled as the same wine. Further, a wine can give many signals that it’s single varietal, such as also being labelled “Single Vineyard”, and the wine is still a blend.
Are “Single Varietal Blends” always a bad thing?
No, although it can be hard for consumers to deconstruct what’s in their glass — there are many legitimate reasons to blend. Most commonly, blending is used to add complexity and layers to a wine by merging the flavor profiles of multiple grapes. Blending can also be used to dial back intensities, or bring out certain characteristics of the core grape. The end goals of each of these reasons is to make a more drinkable and enjoyable wine.
On the other hand, blending can definitely be used for bad reasons — such as decreasing the price of production of a bottle of wine. Some grapes, like Merlot and Petite Sirah, are less expensive due to overcropping and high yields; so including 25% of these grapes can decrease the price per bottle significantly.
Since blending can be used for good and bad reasons, it’s even harder for consumers to understand if its a good or bad thing. Building on the analysis above, we looked at the percent cabernet versus price to see how strong the relationship is between “single varietal blends” and price of the wine. There is a strong correlation (the more expensive, the higher % of cabernet) but there are also many counterexamples of expensive wines that are actually blends!
So, what do we conclude about “single varietal blends”?
While frustrating for consumers, “single varietal blends” aren’t necessarily a sign of low quality or bad wine. Blending is used as a way to help add complexity, nuance, and drinkability to wines — it’s just a matter of getting consumers comfortable with the wine enough to pick it up off the shelf. As someone who cares about learning and knowing what’s in their glass — I highly recommend looking up the tech sheets of the wines you are drinking, especially the single varietal ones.
This only shares one part of the story though — the consumer perspective. Check out Part 2 on the winemaker perspective regarding blends!
