Blending wine really is an art

If you take the time to read wine labels, you will often learn that what is in the bottle is a blend of several different varietals.

The Bell Cabernet Sauvignon is one example of a blend, this wine is produced using a blend of Cabernet clones, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec.

In order to label a wine as Cabernet Sauvignon, at least 75 percent of the wine must be made using the cabernet grape — so in the case of the Bell wine, that leaves the remaining 25 percent to be divided between the other four varietals.

In attending a hands-on seminar that was led by Anthony Bell, winemaker and co-founder of Bell Wine Cellars, I learned that blending wine is much more difficult than one would think — in reality it is an art.

Bell Wine Cellars was established in 1991 and is in the quaint town of Yountville in Napa Valley. Prior to establishing his own winery, Anthony Bell spent 15 years working at Beaulieu Vineyard, where he was influenced by André Tchelistcheff — one of the most innovative and influential winemakers in California history. Beaulieu Vineyards is renowned for their Cabernet Sauvignons, so based upon his tenure there and the influences of Tchelistcheff, it is easy to understand why Bell’s Cabernets are a top-notch effort.

According to Bell, “wine is grown in the vineyard” — meaning the daily decisions that are made during the growing season have a tremendous impact on the final product. For example, if a cluster of grapes are uneven in color, then this cluster is removed from vine. Why? Because the grapes are ripening at different intervals and this will cause some of them to be unripe at harvest, causing an adverse impact to the taste of the juice.

Bell’s winemaking philosophy is to make wine that is restrained, classical and old world — more like the European wines in style as opposed to the fruit forward wines that are commonly being produced in California

In the seminar room, there were five glasses of red wine already poured in front of each seat. These wines were a 2007 Merlot, 2007 Petite Verdot, 2007 Clone 4 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Clone 6 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2007 Clone 337 Cabernet Sauvignon.

A clone occurs when you take a cutting off a particular grapevine that produces fruit with unique and flavorful characteristics and then that plant material is grafted onto rootstock. The end result is an exact copy of the original grapevine. Bell produced and bottled the very first single-vineyard and single-clone Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa.

We were told to taste each of the five wines and discuss the aromas and flavors that we could discern with the people sitting at our table. Then it was our job, so to speak, to determine the percentages of each wine that we wanted to use to make our blend, but we didn’t have to use all five wines. Obviously, the Cabernet Sauvignons provide the structure and balance of the finished blend, but what about the Petite Verdot and the Merlot? The Petite Verdot is a dark, ruby-colored wine that adds depth in color and also tannins, while the Merlot adds fruit flavors.

The winning blend ended up containing 10 percent Merlot and 15 percent Petite Verdot, with the remainder split between the three clones. It had been a daunting task trying to determine which percentages of each wine to use until Mr. Bell informed the group that instead of five wines, he uses between 120 and 130 wines to blend his Cabernet Sauvignon.

A great blend really is a piece of art.

Jim Rawe, a family attorney in Bradenton, is an avid collector of fine wines. He can be reached at jimrawe@gmail.com.