Napa Valley
I just came out of
a local wine shop after attending a great seminar on Meritage and Bordeaux wine
blending. This was excellent to understand “Meritage”,
it’s history, guidelines for varietals and how closely related it is to a
Bordeaux blend. It brought me a greater appreciation to the wine makers, working to
create that perfect blend for all of us to enjoy. Wine blending is such an important aspect in
wine making.
The name Meritage
is taken from two words, Merit and Heritage. It was initially a contest to come up with a name when American wine
makers wanted to designate their wines made in the tradition of a Bordeaux
blend. Today, it’s an alliance and the
wines brought forth from wineries must be considered their best wines with no single grape
variety making up more than 90% of the blend and production of not more than 25,000 cases. Grape varietals can be a blend of Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Carmenère is also allowed however these 5 mentioned are the
predominant ones used.
In our seminar,
taught by Luis Torres, Director of Wine Education for the Constellation Academy
of wine, we worked on blending to match to the 2011 Franciscan Magnificat. We had available to us the 5 single varietals
to mix and match given our own preferences. All be it virtually impossible to
re-create Magnificat, many of us tried to match this nicely blended composition
of 79% Cab. Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. Aged on oak for 20 months the aromas
exhibited dark plums with hints of licorice and flint. The flavor profile exuded ripe blackberries with
a subtle black pepper spice. Medium to
full body with firm tannins. Definitely a
wine to drink today yet very good for aging.
Overall, I wasn’t
sure what to expect out of the seminar, however I was pleasantly
surprised. Luis is great at demystifying
wine, the process of blending and most of all a really nice composure to make
anyone feel comfortable in understanding wine.
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Nice post
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