[wine] The Blend is the thing

Wine drinkers jump on the blendwagon Tim Teichgraeber, Special to The Chronicle Sunday, April 5, 2009 Chris Bilbro, owner and winemaker of Marietta winery in G... Chris Bilbro (left), owner and winemaker of Marietta wine... Chris Bilbro (middle), owner and winemaker of Marietta wi... If a wine's first duty is to be red, its second is surely to taste good. For many, any bottle that satisfies those two prime directives is good enough, and no long-winded discussion of terroir justifies spending an additional $20. More and more, those looking for a hearty, straightforward red are looking to the "everything but the kitchen sink" red blend category - labels like Red Truck, Marietta Old Vine Red and Big House Red to name but a few. These are lightly oaked, unpretentious reds assembled from a handful of grape varieties, usually tagged with a nonconformist label that helps them stand out on shelves. There's nothing terribly new about these. Marietta Cellars owner Chris Bilbro recalls running into Gina Gallo at a party where his Old Vine Red was being poured. "She said, 'Hey, my grandfather used to make that wine. He called it Hearty Burgundy!' " Ridge Vineyards CEO Paul Draper points out the field blend vineyards where Zinfandel was long interplanted with other varieties like Petite Sirah, Carignane and Alicante Bouschet - grapes that add some color or structure to Zinfandel's rich fruit. Such blends were standard practice more than a century ago. "These 19th century growers really knew what they were doing," he says. Today's winemakers, with more grape varieties to work with than ever, are taking the same creative approach: blending various grapes to concoct affordable wines that taste great. "These days the skill of the vintners ... has improved so much that they can accomplish a lot when they have a number of varieties to work with," says Wilfred Wong, cellar master for Beverages & More. That's why blends can offer better value than varietal wines. "If I'm drinking (unblended) California Pinot Noir, I'm going to be paying for it," says Wong. "Someone who used to buy a $40 Cabernet and can't afford it now, they'll buy a $20 Zinfandel blend instead - there's more character in those blends." Nationwide, sales of red blends are up approximately 110 percent over the past four years, according to Information Resources, which tracks U.S. wine sales. The figures show especially explosive growth under $20. Wong says that Baby Boomers are still relatively hung up on varietal wines, but younger consumers are drinking more red wine than ever and are drawn to these red blends. Jason Kugel, manager of Merchant's Fine Wine in Dearborn, Mich., sees the same trends. "Our base customer isn't a traditionalist based on Bordeaux or Burgundy. They're pretty new to the game and willing to try anything, and they're looking for value." Dale Stratton, vice president of strategic insights for Constellation Wines U.S., says the blends hold a fresh new appeal for younger consumers who have less wine-drinking baggage. Stratton notes that younger wine drinkers were raised on Starbucks coffee and have acclimated faster to red wine tannins. Still, as Stratton puts it, "The difference between Opus One and Red Truck is vast." Red Truck was conceived at Cline Cellars in 2002 and perfectly timed the rise of inexpensive blends. The winery did and still does make a red blend called Oakley, but took a slightly different approach with Red Truck. "We created Red Truck before we even knew what we were going to call it," says Charlie Tsegeletos, Cline's winemaker. "It seemed like there was real interest in blended wines with proprietary names and wines where the winemaker was allowed some flexibility." They added an Americana-style red pickup label and a major brand was born. Quirky packaging has definitely been part of the draw. "I think the packaging is even more important on red blends - packaging that really stands out and is more irreverent," says Alex Ootkin Evans of Precept Brands, a Seattle company that markets a couple of very successful labels: House Wine and Waterbrook's Ménge. Sometimes a lower-priced blend can be a good way to introduce younger consumers to a higher-end winery. Fess Parker Winery introduced its successful Frontier Red wine in 2000 because the company didn't really have wines selling for under $20 and feared it was pricing out younger consumers, according to president Tim Snider. "We wanted to give people an entry-level glimpse of the quality we can produce. It's hard to sell only $35 to $40 wines." Today the winery sells about 18,000 cases of Frontier Red a year, with growth of 35 to 50 percent over the last three years. Michael Michaud found something similar. He makes varietal wines from Pinot Noir, Syrah and Sangiovese off his estate in the Chalone appellation east of Soledad, but always has some barrels left over. In 2006, he decided to produce a more affordable blend instead of selling it cheaply on the bulk market. He calls the blend "3" and sells it for $22 a bottle, compared to $35 to $40 for his single-varietals. "We needed something for the bistros that can be poured by the glass," Michaud says. But Georgetta Dane, winemaker for Big House Red, a popular blend created by Bonny Doon's Randall Graham, bristles at the suggestion that her $12 red wine is made from leftovers. She uses up to 32 grape varieties, many sourced specifically to make Big House Red, all of which are vinified separately then blended. Dana says she constructs it the way a perfumer constructs a perfume during a two-week blending process. "I create a base of fuller wines that make the skeleton: Petite Sirah, Syrah and Petit Verdot. Middle notes are Italian varieties, mostly because they're fruity, but have tough tannins. For top notes, I pick something perfumey, like Grenache (for strawberry or rose petal notes) or white wine like Malvasia." More expensive unorthodox blends have also been gaining steam. Duckhorn started making Paraduxx, a $45 blend of Zinfandel with Bordeaux varieties, in 1994; it was such a hit that the brand was spun off into its own Napa winery in 2001. Jeff Cohn of JC Cellars, who specializes in single-vineyard Syrah and Zinfandel, found the first 2005 vintage of his $32 Impostor so successful that both regular customers and his accountant have demanded another edition. L'Aventure and Four Vines, both of Paso Robles, and Flowers on the Sonoma Coast are but a few of the wineries trying more expensive freestyle red blends. Though he spends much of his time on high-end Pinot, Greg La Follette's Peloton ($25), a wild mix of Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and six other red and white grapes, provides both relief from a single-grape focus and a useful source of income. Peloton now accounts for more than one-quarter of total annual production at his Tandem winery. "This is my therapy wine," he says. Whatever the price, Americans seem to be getting over their fear of wines made from more than one grape, and are discovering that artfully blended wines can deliver great value. A selection of red blends less than $25 2006 Cline Oakley Five Reds California Red ($11) A terrific value made from a mix of Merlot, Barbera, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Mourvedre with great layers of bright cherry and raspberry fruit with mint highlights, deeper plum low notes with ample acidity and tannin. 2007 Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Red ($12) Zinfandel with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon come together in this red with enticingly fresh cherry raspberry and milk chocolate aromas. Rather elegant and medium-bodied, with ripe cherry and currant flavors and polished tannins. NV Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red Lot No. 48 California Red ($12) Deeply colored, with exotic cardamom, raspberry and boysenberry aromas with a subtle mint note. Loaded with sweet berry and spice flavors, it finishes soft and just a bit sweet. Zin predominates, with Carignane, Petite Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. 2006 Waterbrook Columbia Valley Melange Noir ($15) A compellingly original wine with a dedicated following. It has strangely unfamiliar blueberry-bramble, red currant and coriander spice aromas, and turns dark and bold in the mouth with grilled meat, boysenberry and tar flavors. 2006 Michaud 3 Chalone Red ($22) A blend of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Sangiovese with pretty cocoa powder, cherry, red currant and bacon aromas, tangy red fruit and pepper flavors. Medium weight and silky in the mouth with a twist of wiry Sangiovese tannin on the finish. 2006 The Magnificent Wine Co. House Wine Columbia Valley Red ($10) A blend of three-quarters Cabernet Sauvignon plus Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. It shows sweet and sour black cherry, plum and white pepper aromas with a subtle vegetal edge, and sturdy blackberry, graphite, cherry and mineral flavors that finish with plenty of mouth-coating tannin. Not a wimpy wine. Tim Teichgraeber is a San Francisco writer. E-mail him at wine(a)sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/05/FDVL16DH44.DTL This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *