August - Blends
August - Blends
** Thursday August 20th - Blends **
In just a few short days we will be discussing probably the most influential aspect of what happens in the cellar, blending!
Pretty much every wine in the world is a blend of some sort and we plan to touch on explaining that philosophy and why even single variety wines are usually blends. That said the main focus will be on why particular blends exist, how history has created classic blends and why a winemaker should not always be bound to those traditions. We will even explore blends not just of varieties but also of vintages and how some of the world’s classics can have great complexity through looking at years, regions, and yes variety. A major part of this will definitely be focused on the true classics of Bordeaux, Rhone, etc and why their blends exist.
Simply put, this is going to be a killer lineup. One flight of whites, one flight of reds and a magical Jerez to explain the solera process. As always we will taste the wines blind first to see what our preference is and just to test how good our palates are.
· Welcome
o Dinner
o Aperitif wine
o Valdespino Amontillado Tio Diego
· White Flight
o Domaine Marcoux Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc 2013
o Badenhorst Family White Blend 2012
o Castel d’Encus Taleia 2012
o Mystery White……..
o Tarara ……..
· Red Flight
o Chateau Potensac 1995 (why not?)
o Chateau La Lagune 2010
o Dauvergne-Ranvier Cote Rotie 2009
o Roger Sabon Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve 2009
o Mystery Wine……
o Tarara …….
o Tarara …….
Let’s face it, every wine in the world pretty much is a blend. Even varietal wines are blends just aiming at a different end product to make the wine more “varietally correct”. In this tasting we are going to go through many different types of blends and explore why the blend exists. We will look at some traditional blends and what each variety brings to the table like Bordeaux or Southern Rhone. We will also explore some out of the box blends that are paving the way for the new wine lifestyle. We will also look at a couple of varietal wines and decide if the blending was of benefit to the end product or what we might do differently.
- Tasting – Two Flights
o Flight one: Explore some intriguing blends traditional and not. These tend to be cooler climate wines except for Southern France / Rhone which will be included. We will also check out some wine from Northern Italy, Virginia and maybe some other esoteric region.
o Flight two: Red blends are far more common and worldly so we will look at several styles to understand why tradition has brought certain varieties together. Think Bordeaux, Rhone, Rioja or Valpolicella.
- Reception – We will stick with the theme of summer and aim to have some great local bites to enjoy the bounty that is Loudoun County while we have the chance!