The Art of Blending
Blending is an absolute art-form, whether it’s blending different grape varieties, blending from different vineyards within a region or even blending from vineyards across various regions. The image of regional blends had been damaged by the inexpensive, bulk production wines of the past that were produced from inferior fruit sourced from across a vast area of inferior vineyard land. But when produced from high quality fruit by skilled winemakers, the art of blending is clear to see, the differences from each grape variety, vineyard or even region adding its own personality to the blend and heightening a wines complexity to great levels.
Wines that are produced from different vineyards exploit the best features from each. One vineyard might produce fruit with higher acidity and one might produce richer fruit, another might produce fruit with firmer tannins all combining to make up a wine that balances finesse, power and structure. Some wines are made up from different vineyards from within one region, keeping the regional identity of the wine but bringing together the unique features and qualities of each vineyard, and some wines are blended from vineyards found across different regions to craft unique wines that combine the expressions of each region. The most famous of this is Penfolds Grange that is made from a multitude of sites from across Australia but Hardys are also experts at this, combining the finest Pinot Fruit from Tasmania and Yarra Valley, or blending the powerful fruit of McLaren Vale Shiraz with the refined Clare Valley Shiraz. Wines than are regional or multi regional blends pick out the very best features of the individual vineyards and combine them to craft wines of great balance and complexity.
