Wine expert, Madeline Puckette, breaks down the most popular red blends in the world while mixing them together. Surprisingly, it reveals what to look for when tasting wines critically.
In the classic wine regions of the world, wine blending is a huge part of the art of winemaking. Regions like Bordeaux and the Douro Valley of Portugal have century-long traditions of making blends.
Wine blends have compelling benefits:
- Blending varieties together helps create smoothness and balance.
- Vineyards with multiple grape varieties resist plant diseases and pests.
- Winemakers can better control vintage variation through blending.
- Wine blends allow for more diversity in the vineyards.
Today, most wine regions have very strict rules on what grapes are permitted in a region and its wines. For example, you’ll never see more than 10% of Petit Verdot added to a red blend in Bordeaux.
In this tasting and blending video, we taste 5 unique wine blends to discover their unique features. Then, the wines are blended together multiple times until a new blend is discovered!