Blend a Better Bordeaux

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015
7:00 pm

Blend a Better Bordeaux

No, we don’t mean that you should put your wine into a blender!

Many of the world's favorite wines are blends of grape varieties. Red Rioja, Cotes du Rhone, Champagne, Chianti Classico, Chateauneuf du Pape, Port, and the GSM (Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre) blends of Australia are examples. The list is long. But, no blended wine is as sought after as red Bordeaux.  Nor is any wine as copied.

Going back in time, the main reason for the Bordeaux blend was agricultural. Winemakers used Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc not because they tasted good together, but that the three budded, flowered and ripened at different times from spring to fall. The main reason for the blend, ironically, was so that you didn't need to have a blend. If the Merlot failed, well, there was going to be some Cabernet Sauvignon to harvest and sell.

The grapes grew in different sections of Bordeaux because each was more adaptable to some soil types than to others. One blend, weighted with Cabernet Sauvignon, characterizes many wines from the Medoc.  A second Bordeaux, far heavier in Merlot, characterizes those made on the Right Bank (north of the rivers that divide the region), in places such as St. Emilion or Pomerol.

There is no one true Bordeaux blend, even though a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon is often an expected starting point. (Despite that about two and a half times more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon grows in Bordeaux itself.) The romantic idea that Merlot softens Cabernet Sauvignon's astringency or fattens and plumps up its austerity reads back into Bordeaux blends an idea or goal that wasn't there at the outset of the blend itself.

So, on the one hand, it's easy to copycat a Bordeaux blend outside of Bordeaux, even if no one, including many a Bordelais, puts one together for the original reasons. The goal everywhere is just to make as good a red wine with the best grapes available. We’re going to do exactly that!  

Our tasting will be a lesson in blending so that, to quote Aristotle, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.  Our presenter will be our own blending expert, Terry Germanoski.  He will guide you through the process with four varietal wines, and help to make a better, Bordeaux style blend.  Each table will have four varietal wines to use for blending.  They will present their final blend to one of our esteemed judges for the final determination of the “Best in Show”.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR WINE GLASSES.  

If you have not yet received your six wine glasses and carry bag, we will have them for you that evening.

The cost for members is $30.
The cost for guests is $35.

Please reply before May 6 to:

aws.pittsburgh@gmail.com

Or you may reply to Kathleen Simpson at 412-657-1861

Mail your check, payable to AWS to:

Dr. Dennis Trumble

1302 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA  15212

Don’t forget to visit the website for directions, useful tips, and recipes.

aws-pittsburgh.blogspot.com