The Key to Blending Complex Wines

The history of this process started in my work at Simi Winery. I came from a country that is not known for Cabernet production (New Zealand) and so when I got the job it was key that I learn how to make Bordeaux reds as fast as possible. 

As a result I was lucky enough to work with Michel Rolland. The legendary Zelma Long had hired him and Simi Winery was the first winery outside of France that Michel worked for.  I did not understand how to blend Cabernet Sauvignon being from New Zealand. He taught me there were five wine styles – Elegant, Powerful, Dense, Green and Simple. Obviously we only work with Elegant Powerful & Dense.

The Elegant ones provide soft berry fruit flavors on the front of the tongue. These wines typically have good acidity but not necessarily much length. The wine is all up front. Sort of like “sweet” when people describe where they see that on the tongue. The Powerful wines provide more weight, freshness and richness in the middle of the mouth. This is classic Cabernet and Merlot “mouth fruit zone” and most wines fit this. Then the Dense wines provide structure and finish but without a lot of fresh fruit. They are huge wines and the way I often describe Petite Verdot. 

It’s all very well to have them on the blending table but how do we see them in the vineyard and then how do we make the wine in relation? 

Firstly the Vineyard. The hard thing was to identify what made these wines unique. I therefore started looking at the final blend components. From there I went out to the vineyard where these wines were coming from. 

The Elegant wines are the most easy to make. These vines have lower pruning weight ratios. This means they have slightly more crop than the canopy would indicate. Here we drop a fair amount of fruit on the ground. Hang time is the longest, as I know the wine will always be more fruity than tannic. These vines are often 145 days from flowering to harvest. I therefore bring those grapes into the winery and extract the heck out of them because I knew they were more fruity than tannic. I ferment at 30°C and give good amounts of air and oxygen during the pumpovers. After fermentation I allow the temperature of the tank to fall to 18°C. This way I am keeping all the tannin in the wine as I am not allowing it to polymerize as much as it could normally. 

The Dense wines are the other extreme. They are the most difficult to understand as in the end these vineyards turn out to be the most vigorous vines with lowest crop. I would go to the vineyard and taste and taste and I would see dry tannin and dry tannin and dry tannin and then suddenly a raisin would appear. So I realized that I had to pick those grapes earlier and extract them differently. These wines are always more tannin than fruity at harvest. If I make them the same way as elegant, I will have a big dry tannin monster on my hands. Therefore I extract the wines a lot less. I ferment cooler and pump over for a shorter periods of time with less oxygen. After fermentation which is cooler, I warm the tanks up to polymerize more tannins and therefore make the wines softer. These wines have more tannin than fruit so the complete process is a lot more gentle.

The Powerful wines are a combination of the two processes. Ferment warm but do not allow the tanks to cool down too much.

When it comes to blending it is never 30% of each. It always depends on the vintage. For instance 

• 2018 is a more powerful/dense vintage with slightly heavier crops before I am looking for more elegant wine to blend in. 

• 2017 is more was powerful and so closer to the 30/30/30

• 2016 was more elegant and so I looked to more powerful and dense components 

Anyway this is a process I have been modifying since 1989 in Oakville and Alexander Valleys both. There are so many other influences as well of course; the soil, the climate, water and timing. This is all very well but great winemaking is also the art of the practical. For me site specific winemaking is the key to great wine. How does one make great wine from the same variety in the same block? I think this is how.