October 15, 2008
By Any Other Name ,Mike Dunne, Sacramento Bee

…Vintners see blends as objects of artistry

Proprietary blended wines represent the gestalt approach to winemaking. The more kinds of grapes that go into a wine, the more expressive the wine, goes the reasoning of winemakers. Vintners who like to create proprietary blended wines – and many of them have at least one in their portfolio, even if most of their wines are varietals – often liken blending to cooking.A dish can be fine with just one seasoning, but if you draw upon several spices and herbs, it's likely to light up the dinner table more profoundly. Dinner guests may not be able to figure out what exactly makes the dish so notable, but they know they like it, and they ask for seconds or thirds.  By comparison, a varietal wine – a wine made solely or largely with just one grape variety – may be intriguing but just not as complex and persistently enthralling…

Mid-price blends to $35 offer complexity and value

Medium-priced proprietary blends – $15 to $35 – offer consumers the most accessible and revealing examples of the genre. Three of my favorites tasted recently:…

 Holly's Hill Vineyard 2006 El Dorado Patriarche (14.8 percent alcohol, $30): Holly's Hill is just across the road from Sierra Vista, and winemaker Carrie Bendick is just as passionate about proprietary blends based on Rhone Valley grape varieties. The 2006 Patriarche, principally mourvèdre and syrah, is a hefty yet prudent wine, bringing in blackberries and raspberries, earthiness and tobacco, and a spice rack of assorted seasonings to yield a blend elegant, complex and long…

View the entire article at the Sac Bee website here.

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