Columbia Winery NV Composition, Columbia Valley, $14
Best Buy! Here is Columbia Winery’s largest bottling under the leadership of E&J Gallo, and California refugee Sean Hails gets to showcase his winemaking artistry with this stunning release of this new proprietary red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. There’s a greeting from aromas of strawberry candy, plum, violets, lilac, cocoa powder and vanilla. On the attack, it’s a bold presentation of strawberry and cherry with good richness on the entry. The medium structure of tannins leads to a lingering finish of milk chocolate. Suggested pairings by the Woodinville winery’s culinary team include duck, lamb or ratatouille.
Rating: Outstanding!
Production: 34,048 cases
Alcohol: 13.3%
Lisa Gerber says
Thank you for including us in this great list. We’re looking forward to trying a few of these we haven’t tasted before
Morten Scholer says
Thanks this update on red blends – and the bottles presented.
Could someone let me know whether any of the many blends happen to be co-fermented, i.e. grapes blended prior to fermentation. And whether co-fermentation is at all used in your area.
A wine-grower in Northern California told me that the old tradition with field blends is gaining popularity with some producers near him. However, not in the old-fashioned form of true field blends where different grapes are planted next to each other.
Burgundy in France does traditionally not blend wines (different from Bordeaux) but there are a few exceptions – called passetoutgrains or passe-tout-grains. And they are wonderful. Some parts of Austria have a strong tradition of field blending and co-fermentation but that is mainly for white wines.
Interested as I plan a wine-tour to Washington-Oregon-California in June-July 2014.
Morten Scholer, Coppet, Switzerland
Andy Perdue says
Morten,
Thank you for taking the time to write. Generally speaking, the only co-fermented wines we see are Syrah with a bit of Viognier, made in the Cote-Rotie tradition. There are rare instances where field blends are co-fermented, as well.
We’ve tasted one example of a passetoutgrains-style blend in the Northwest, and that is JoieFarm in Naramata, British Columbia, which makes a wine called, appropriately, PTG. It is superb, and if you make your way to British Columbia in your travels, that wine is well worth seeking out.
Take care.