Family Day wines

There is an old saying that you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends.

Genetics is a large and sweeping topic in the wine world. Though there are only a handful of grapes that are used to make most of the wines of the world, there are over 5,000 different wine grapes planted, most of which have been genetically tested.

Genetics is important in academic circles where understanding the lineage of a grape variety is important, but is beyond the interest of the average consumer. What is of interest, however, are the blends of grapes that produce familiar wines. Some of the common blends may have genetic links, while some have been chosen as you would choose lifelong friends, who inevitably end up becoming family.

Let’s start in Bordeaux, as it is home to the number one wine grape grown in the entire world: cabernet sauvignon.

On the left side of the Gironde river, or what is known as the Medoc, cabernet sauvignon forms the base of the blend while merlot, and cabernet franc make up the rest. Sometimes you’ll find a little malbec and petite verdot mixed in as well.

While over on the right side of the river, in villages like Pomerol and Saint Émilion, merlot is the main grape and it is often blended with cabernet franc to great acclaim.

Even the sweet wines of Bordeaux from Sauternes are comprised of a blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon.

Up in Champagne, the three grapes most often blended are chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier.

Further south in the Rhone valley, specifically in the most southern part, you’ll find the Côte du Rhône wines which blends grenache, syrah and mourvèdre for reds and viognier, roussanne and marsanne for whites.

Most other regions in France are home to single-variety wines, for example Burgundy and Loire. In these regions, blends are often of of grapes from different vineyards and not of different grape varieties. Where this is the case, the wines from a single vineyard will command greater interest and higher prices.

In regions where you find blends, there are often monovarital wines usually made from a single vineyard, which stand out for their uniqueness and as such will also attract higher prices.

In Italy, blends are common in many regions. In the Veneto, the wines from Vallpolicella are blends of corvina, rondinella, and molinara.

Chianti’s original “recipe”, dating back to 1872, was 70 per cent sangiovese, 15 per cent canaiolo, and 15 per cent malvasia bianco. These days, most wines from Chianti are still blends, however there is desire for just sangiovese from single vineyards to better express the region.

And up in Piedmont, Barolo and Barbaresco are both single grape wines made from Nebbiolo grape. In each of these regions, it is common to blend across vineyards, with single vineyards gaining the most attraction.

Spain and Portugal are both countries where blending is common too. Rioja in Spain and the Port region of Portugal are two regions producing familiar wines dominated by blends. Tempranillo in Rioja and touriga nacional in Port.

Family days is just behind us. What blends will you be drinking to keep the spirit of the holiday going?

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