Bordeaux Blend Red Wine

 

A Bordeaux Blend, at its most basic, is any combination of those grape varieties typically used to make the red wines of Bordeaux. The phrase, which seems to have originated with British wine merchants in the 19th Century, relates as much to wines made from the blend as to the grape variety combination itself (© Copyright material, Wine-Searcher.com). Far from being an officially defined or legal term, it is almost never used for wine-labeling purposes (although it occasionally appears on back labels). Its equivalent in the United States is Meritage, which is not only legally defined, but also a registered trademark.

Cabernet Sauvignon  is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth.  This grape produces wines  always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.   Until you start tasting this grape, you may not pick up on all of these traits.   But after drinking Cabernet Sauvignon, as a Bordeaux, as a USA Meritage, or as straight Cabernet from many different countries, you do start to notice these qualities.  The Cabernet Sauvignon  vines are highly adaptable to different soil types and climates and are grown at almost all soil conditions and environment. Wines made from this grape are known for their lasting qualities.   Some of the finer French Bordeaux and California Cabernet Sauvignon can last over 75 years.

 

 

Cabernet Franc  is a black-skinned French wine grape variety grown in most wine producing nations.  As a varietal wine, Cabernet Franc is light to medium bodied and often shows vegetal characteristics, in particular green bell peppers.   I’ve always found wines made exclusively from this grape to be fragrant and floral with a soft taste of fresh earth.  This grape  prefers cooler climates that are generally found in the French Bordeaux region.   A good portion of these vines are planted in the Loire valley in France.  You generally do not find many 100% Cabernet Franc wines, since they are generally used for blending.  The one exception is on the North Fork of Long Island, NY.   There you will find some of the better Cabernet Francs..

 

Merlot  Merlot is a red wine grape variety with strong historic ties to Bordeaux and the southwest of France. It is the predominant variety in most wines from Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, the area in which the variety originated.  The Merlot grape is fast growing and matures quicker than the other classic French Bordeaux grapes.   You can describe Merlot  as having a lot of fruit friendly flavors, plum and black cherry dominant.   Its also described as a very easy drinking wine.  They are generally less in tannin because the grape is so large, there is not much pips or thickness of skin, where the tannin comes from.

 

 

Petite Verdot  is a red wine grape whose small, thick-skinned berries are valued for their depth of color. Traditionally the variety  has played a small role in the classic blends of Bordeaux, but varietal Petit Verdot wines are now appearing in many regions of southern Europe, the Americas and Australia.

 

Malbec  is a black-skinned grape variety native to southwestern France (specifically the area around Cahors), but now better known as the iconic wine grape of Argentina.  Malbec typically ripens midway through the growing season and produces small, intensely colored grapes.   French Malbec tends to be more meaty, rustic and tannic, while examples from Argentina seem to be uniformly rich, ripe, jammy and juicy.    I have always appreciated a Malbec wine from Argentina.   The grape can  grow at so many different latitudes,  so that these wines from  Mendonza can range from average to outstanding.

 

 

Carmenere   is a dark-skinned grape variety originally from the vineyards of Bordeaux, and which has found a particularly suitable home in Chile. A late-ripening variety,  Carmenere needs high levels of sunshine and a warm summer to reach its full potential, but in the right environment it can produce fine, deeply colored red wines, with the attractive meaty plumpness of Merlot and the gently herbaceous, cedary notes of Cabernet Sauvignon.