Are blended wines better than unblended wines?

If you’re at a restaurant and don’t recognize any of the wines, is blend always the safest choice?
RZ, Wodonga, Vic

There are so many options for wine these days. You might as well just close your eyes and stick your finger in the wine list—even we pros can’t keep up. This is especially true of restaurants, many of which seem to deliberately limit their offerings to lesser-known fringe producers.

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There are some pet theories about how to choose a decent wine when you’re at a restaurant and completely stumped. If you’re not a connoisseur, why should you pay top dollar? On the other hand, if you don’t want to look cheap). However, none of these theories are grounded.

Are blended wines better than unblended wines? There is none. That said, winemakers have used the art of blending to check all the boxes and put together a wine that actually tastes good, so I sympathize with the theory that the blended wine is likely to be of high quality. To do.

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Another way is to rely on a single vineyard or single grape variety. In theory, they are less likely to produce well-balanced and appealing wines year after year. Indeed, good old Aussie blended Cabernet Shiraz works very well and is often my preference over a particular winery’s straight Shiraz or straight Cabernet Sauvignon.

There may be blends of grape varieties, regional blends, vineyard blends, or any combination of the above. The current fascination with individual vineyard wines is linked to the idea of ​​terroir and the desire of winemakers to speak about their vineyards and therefore produce wines with a certain identity.

It’s a different idea than the concept of quality or drinkability. It depends on what you want as a wine lover. It could be a place, a grape variety, a wine from a particular winemaker, or just a good wine. And the latter, as we all know, is a subjective judgment.