The benefits, and limits of regional blends.

Bordeaux---the term conjures up the magical blends across the region, right bank vs left, merlot dominated vs cab franc dominated, the hunt for malbec and carignan, now almost nonexistent in Bordeaux...So many of us try to recreate or favorite Bordeaux blends (or Rioja blends, or Super Tuscans, well, because they exist.  While that is a fantastic endeavor, they end to be very difficult to emulate, no matter how good your grapes and winemakeing are. Of course, your wine is great, but why does it not taste like tha fabled bottle you enjoyed on that romattic trip so many ears ago?  There are a few reasons.  fistly, a region will grow grapes that thrive in its climate, soil, and taditions of winemaking.  Add that to the idea that wine regions also competed with each other, and when wanting to differentiate themselves from th neighboring wine region, needed to find grapes that might grow better in their reigon, then blend them to have "local" wines of distinction.  

Sometimes we get limited by trying to recreate regional lends, and put aside our own tastes, preferences, and attributs of teh grepas we can buy.  Terroir is a grat divider...cabernet franc grown in say Italy, simply will not taste the same as vines from say medoc, or even the Loirew alley where it reigns supreme.  ditto for other areas where it is grown, san Finger Lakes, Oregon, and other places.

So if you find yourself in a regional blends box, it si time to jump out of it!  Try blending Grenache Noir with Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz with Petiti Verdot and a splash of Grenache Blanc...set your mind free!  

Set up some trials.  Say you have 3 wines, each made with different grape.  Botle up half of each varietal on its own.  Now the fun begins.  Taste each individual wine, thinking about color, flavors, aromas, body...and construct your new favorite wine by assembling a wine that manages to diversify its provile becasue of the addition of various flavors, aromas, and other characteristics of each individual wine.  I will go out on a limb, and bet a year or two down the road, your favorite wine just may be your own personal assembly.  And voila, you now have your own private appellation!