The Art of the Blend

The aroma of Cabernet Sauvignon fills the air. The white countertop that runs around the entire perimeter of the Robert Mondavi Winery’s lab tasting room is jammed with wine glasses--150 of them. They represent different grapes and regions of the southern Napa Valley: Cabernet from west Napa, Stag’s Leap, Oakville Bench and Yountville; Merlot; blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

This is 1990 wine that will be blended into two wines, Mondavi’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells for $16 a bottle, and Mondavi Reserve Cabernet, which sells for $45. The task facing red-bearded Tim Mondavi, assistant winemaker Charles Thomas, director of enology Ken Shyvers and technical director Pat Mahaney is simple: Assemble these two wines from all the components.

It is more difficult than it sounds. The Mondavi team, like others at wineries around the world, assembles tentative blends, then tests them in various ways. Weeks later they will arrive at a conclusion about what the final blend will be--but not before much wrangling and chatter.

Mondavi’s system creates a Cabernet that today is the state’s standard-bearer, the Napa Valley’s benchmark. Vintage differences aside, Mondavi’s regular Cabernet always shows the cherry and currant fruit of the Oakville area, the delicate herbal-cedar and smoke note of so-called “Rutherford dust” and a warm, inviting aftertaste that matches well with many foods.

Tasting through some of the parts of the not-yet-assembled 1990 wine, I was struck by the widely different styles. One blend was exciting wine but not “a Mondavi wine.” Another glass had wine that was closer to what I think of as a Mondavi wine, yet wasn’t as good as it should be.

“That’s the trick,” said Thomas. “Making it taste like the wines we always make.” And making enough of it to supply the growing demand.

The Mondavi people buy more grapes than needed, which gives them the luxury of blending. “We consistently overcrush, so we have a lot more juice than we need,” said Tim. He said this gives a greater flexibility in finding complex elements to add to the final product.

“That’s the beauty of our Woodbridge line,” he said, referring to wines made in Lodi largely from lower-quality Cabernet grapes. “As we’re making the blend of our wines here, we know that what we don’t use here can go over to Woodbridge to improve that wine. I’d say we ‘deep six’ about 20% of our Cabernet for these wines and ship them to Woodbridge.”

Mondavi doesn’t disclose how much Reserve Cabernet is made, but it is believed that the winery makes some 15,000 cases of it.

Across the valley, the smaller Shafer Winery makes a superb Hillside Select Cabernet in far smaller quantities (rarely more than 2,000 cases a year), all from a single vineyard. And yet it too is a blend of different lots from different sections of the vineyard that yield different characteristics.

In most years, the Sunspot area makes up the majority of the Shafer Hillside Select, along with small amounts of the areas called Firebreak and Upper Seven. Some years, though, wine from the latter vineyard isn’t good enough and isn’t used at all, says winemaker Doug Shafer.

Since 1987, Shafer has been making up his Hillside blend earlier.

“We used to wait for a year and a half (after harvest) before making the blend,” he says, “but in 1987 we started doing the blends quite early, at six months.”

What is significant about both Mondavi and Shafer wines is that both seem to avoid major vintage variations. Both make excellent wines in poorer years. I recently tasted both wineries’ 1983 Cabernets, from the worst vintage of the last decade. Both made better wine than the average of the Napa Valley.

Likewise, in 1988, a good but not great vintage, both Mondavi Reserve and Shafer Hillside Select were better than most of their neighbors’ wines. The Mondavi wine (to be released later this year) has a spice-box character that’s warm and inviting, with tremendous depth. The Shafer Hillside, which will be released early in 1993, has rich, herbal and toasty notes and a complex aftertaste.

Blending various barrels of wine into one or two final wines is a chore that gives winemakers sleepless nights.

Sergio Traverso, who a decade ago was winemaker at Sterling Vineyards for three years, once was asked his most difficult task while there. He replied:

“I go into the cellar where all the barrels are, hundreds of them, and I have to make a great Cabernet from all of them, and I have to make a Reserve Cabernet that is three times as good as the regular Cabernet. That’s a nightmare.”

Wine of the Week

1991 Adler Fels Gewurztraminer ($9)-- A fragrant and inviting wine with classic carnation spice components that lead to a huge clove/allspice taste and a fairly dry finish. There are a lot of excellent Gewurztraminers on the market these days, and this is one of the best.