🍷 Blend

Blending is the mixing of wines or grape juices of different origins, different varieties, vintages or categories. That is exactly how EU law defines it (Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Article 7). The aim, according to the OIV code, is to obtain a wine with the desired analytical and sensory properties, but blending may not be used to hide a wine's spoilage.

The law treats as different categories, among others, red and white wine, and also wines without an appellation, with a PDO and with a PGI; for this purpose rosé counts as red. Enrichment with concentrated grape juice and sweetening are not blending. Mixing wine from third countries with EU wine, or with each other, is prohibited within the Union.

For sparkling wines the OIV describes blending separately: juices or wines of different varieties, areas and years are combined to make up a cuvée. Red AOC Bordeaux is made only from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Côt, Carménère and Petit Verdot, with up to 5 % of varieties added for adaptation to the climate. Vienna's Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC is a field blend: at least three varieties from one vineyard are harvested and processed together; the largest variety may be no more than 50 %, the third no less than 10 %.

A blend does not mean a cheap wine. Conversely, a varietal wine in the EU is not necessarily from a single variety: 85 % of the named one is enough. Rosé without an appellation may not be made by mixing white and red; the exceptions are a base for sparkling wine (cuvée) and semi-sparkling wines.

Why it matters to you. If two or more varieties are named on the label, they have to make up 100 % of the wine and be listed in descending order of share – so the first variety on the list is the main one. A vintage on the bottle means that at least 85 % of the grapes are from that year.