Weird grape blends

what are the odd wine blends you’ve come across in you wine travels? Did they work better than expected or leave you shaking your head?

… and for fun, I’d also say home blending experiments also allowed/encouraged in this thread - whether blended when sober or otherwise.
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Welcome Pamela,

I have always found it odd that great Northerner Rhone syrah has viognier blended in.

i like both varieties but I won’t think “hey, these need to be blended”

Dominio IV in Oregon has made a Viognier/Syrah blend in which Viognier is the majority grape.

I miss Chianti with Malvasia or Trebbiano blended in. It made many of them a better casual wine, and really beat the present trend of making the wine more approachable by using over-ripe grapes and oak.

Tandem Cellars Peloton. Blend varied from year to year, but was assortment of Carignan, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, Gewurztraminer, Syrah and Pinot Meunier depending on the year.

Jonata Todos.

Blend varies from year to year. 2015 vintage is: Syrah, Cab Franc, Peit Verdot, Sangiovese, Petit Sirah, Cab Sauv, Viognier.

Pretty solid bottle!

Todos means “everything” in Spanish. No false advertising there.

This.

This is going to be hard to find but I’ll try. Petit Meslier and Pinot Meunier, made by Laherte Freres.

While you’re at it…

2007 Duval-Leroy Petit Meslier Champagne Authentis Brut 100% PETIT MESLIER


Wonderwerk makes (made?) a blend called Free Your Mind - 50% carignan and 50% riesling. Served chilled and mighty tasty. Though still, a guilty pleasure like Bornard’s pet nats can be.

Total oak fruit bomb for me.

Syrah/cab is fairly rare, the main ones are in Provence (trevallon and others?) And clos Saron makes an awesome one.

And Herzog used to make a 50% Napa Cab, 50% Paso Syrah blend that was pretty good. Don’t know if they still do.

This one came to mind immediately:

2014 Gen del Alma Otra Piel - Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, Gualtallary (1/24/2018)
– decanted approximately 45 minutes before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –
– 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Pinot Noir –

NOSE: “dark”; strong cigar wrapper note; juicy tobacco and leather; a touch musky; moderately expressive.

BODY: medium bodied.

TASTE: medium+ to high acidity; juicy purple berries with hints of red berries; ripe fruit; a touch jammy; very interesting; a little bit of the Cab. Franc pyrazines; tobacco; 14.5% alc.; this is very excellent and interesting. Probably the best Argentinian wine I’ve ever had (granted, not that many). Excellent QPR @ $27.

50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = (92 pts.)

Harlequin by zyme’ .Garganega, Trebbiano toscano, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syraz, Teroldego, Croatina, Oseleta, Sangiovese, Marzemino .

The blend is weird but the wine is actually amazing

A local semi-commercial winery made a 50/50 Cabernet Sauvgnon/Pinot Noir from their young vines. Enjoyable easy drinking early drinker.

Cab/Syrah is made all over the world. It’s a natural. We’d see more of it in the U.S. if we weren’t so stuck on varietal wines.

Pinot Noir is a great blending grape and can play pretty much the same role as Grenache. It just doesn’t make financial sense in most cases. Sangiovese fits the role well, too (if you don’t over-extract it).

Teutonic makes an 80% Gewurtztraminer/20% Pinot Noir as a light drinking red.

Just about everything made at Hiyu is some weird field blend. the Atavus bottling is Gewurtz and Pinot Noir cofermented, for example.

Hard to compete with Mas Daumas Gassac here. For example, the 2010 vintage is:

– 70% Cabernet Sauvignon.
– 6.2% Cabernet Franc.
– 5.3% Merlot.
– 3.6% Pinot noir.
– 3.2% Tannat.
– 2% Malbec.
– 9.7% rare grape varieties : Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Armigne, Arenie, Bastardo, Saperavie, Tchkaveri, Montepulciano, Areni Noir, Tchekavesi, Souzon, Brancalleo, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Abouriou and Plavac Mali.

Just noticed allocation available for the 2016 - Blend even weirder: Adding Sauv Blanc and Semillon to the above. Can’t wait to try!

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Dirty & Rowdy & Enfield’s Mourvèdre-Pinot Noir blend. It’s really nice, but took years to enter a drinking window. It’s still pretty youthful.

It’s a reasonably common blend in Australia, though. There are also some Super Tuscan blends of Syrah with cab and/or merlot.