Is this the weirest blend of varieties (not varietals) you h

I do not want to trash any winery or winemaker, so I will not mention the producer, but how about this as a blend: 74% merlot, 10% pinot noir, 8% primitivo [that’s Zin, right?], 5% cabernet sauvignon, and 1.5% each cabernet franc and petite verdot. $14.39 a bottle on WTSO. I seem to recall a thread a few years ago about what two varieties should never be blended together and I suggested Pinot and Zin. Anyone else have exanples of really odd blends that made it out of the laboratory and onto the bottling line?

Tandem Peloton is a pretty strange blend. Pinot, Zin, Carignane, Sangiovese, Syrah, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Meunier.
Small percentages on the last 6, but still, odd blend.

Also, one of the Owen Roe wines used to have everything under the sun in it, including Blaufrankisch.

Sokol-Blosser’s ‘Evolution No. 9’: Pinot Gris, Gewürtztraminer, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Semillon, Sylvaner, Riesling, Chardonnay, Muscat

Flowers ‘Perennial’: Pinot Noir, Syrah, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay

There is some wine I see on store shelves (and Whole Foods has it at the bar sometimes) that is a Pinot and Zin blend. Has a big, fancy “M” on the label. I tried it one day at WFs, and was not bad. I think it retails for about $14.

That’s a grape? I always thought it was Egon Muller’s illegitimate great great uncle.

Scherrer makes a Pinot/Zin blend Rose that is very good.

Elizabetta Foradori used to make a blend of Petite Sirah, Teroldego, Merlot and LEMBERGER if I remember correctly. And it was named after “the mythical camel who brought the wet to the dry”…

The Camel is the best part of this…

Navarro throws in some wild stuff in its Navarrouge:

2009: “a third Zinfandel, … twenty-three percent … Syrah, sixteen percent … Grenache, and fourteen percent Valdiguié.”

2007: “Valdiguié, Syrah, Zinfandel, Carignan, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Petite Sirah, Grenache, and Cinsaut.”

2005: 60% Zin, 20% Syrah, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon plus 3% additions each of old vine Petite Sirah, Mourvèdre, Carignan and Pinot Noir.

2004: “Almost half of this year’s Navarrouge is Zinfandel and Dolcetto, beloved grapes of Mendocino’s Italian pioneer winegrowers. We also splashed in (in declining amounts) Valdiguié, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Mourvèdre and Cinsaut.”

Found an old catalog listing: The camel was called Karanar and was Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Verdot, Lemberger and “other grapes”…

Here’s a nice note on it from Cellar Tracker:

“35% Syrah; 26% Merlot; 11% Cabernet Franc; 9% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Sangiovese; 6% Mourvedre; 5% Petit Verdot ; 2% Malbec”

Novelty Hills Royal Slope Red. Pretty tasty, though somewhat generic in varietal terms. I know, I know…

Though I once found a bottle of Sicilian red that was 90% something (I forget the variety). That’s it. 90% X… And the bottle was 100% full. Hmm.

There are some older plots of that stuff here in Oregon. I’ve never had one that I didn’t think was the vinous equivalent of feed corn.

Just speculation here, but I suspect that these sorts of odd blends were in the past more common than we imagine. Folks who planted grapes in times gone by probably planted various type just to see what would grow well and made wine from the field blend of grapes that got ripe in any given year. It would be an interesting thing to research just when in the 2000+ year recorded history of wine that single grape wines came to the fore in various regions.

“Cultura Promiscua” has a long history in Italy. One grower told me it was “vinous Darwinism”: "We plant varieties that respond differently to different weather then, at the end of the year, you will have the most grapes from the vines best suited to the weather you actually GOT but could not have predicted…"

That doesn’t sound odd at all. It’s syrah/grenache blended with cabernet that throw me. They always taste disjointed.

Doesn’t sound odd at all? Admittedly, that was the closest to being a conventional blend of the vintages I listed, and Grenache/Syrahs are a dime a dozen. But how many Zin/Grenache blends do you see, or even Zin/Syrah? Have you ever seen any California wine with Valdiguié (aka Gros Auxerrois)?

" But how many Zin/Grenache blends do you see, or even Zin/Syrah?"

Boys and Girls, can you say Gallo Hearty Burgundy?

VERY common on low end reds from old line Italian American wineries…

Please just keep your Rhones out of my Bordeaux blend.

We (NPA) did a field blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Counoise, Cab Sauv. (2 rows), Roussanne, Marsanne, Viognier, Picpoul, and Muscat Blanc- 100% whole cluster co-fermented.

Did it look like your avatar pic??? Come on down to Rhone Rangers in a few weeks and bring me a sample - I’d love to try it!!!

Cheers!