The way it was explained to me by a RRV grower whose family has owned and farmed a ‘Dago Blend’ vineyard since the late 1800s is that the reason the vineyard was planted that way was to ensure a drinkable wine each vintage regardless of weather conditions. One over-ripe variety is balanced by a leaner one. One provides, acidity, another structure and another fruit. In the end they wanted something they could count on every year. Something that was forgiving in the cellar and universally enjoyed as a finished wine.
As I originally asked:
Many of the most-loved (by me and many WB’ers) Zinfandel-dominant vineyard-designated wine producers harvest fruit from a specific interplanted vineyard and ferment the varieties separately, only to blend certain barrels into a finished wine later.
The proportions of varieties present in the vineyard parcel(s) are almost always different from the percentages in the bottled wine.
My previous comment was in response to David’s post asserting (to my limited understanding) that this was not a true representation of the field blend model.
Again, I am more than happy to drink the wine and be happy. I am not criticizing any vintner’s methods. My original post was a query, asking what others might qualify as a true field blend wine. As for specific producers…
Real field blends can be great and can be terrible. The wine is rarely ever the same year to year. Especially if everything is picked and fermented at the same time. Not everything ripens equally. Kind of tough to manage quality control that way (I’m guessing).
As a prominent winemaker once stated, the vintages where most of the grapes are harvested at peak ripeness can create more profound final wines with the inclusion of a proportion of slightly under-ripe and slightly over-ripe grapes. It’s like an orchestra with bass, alto, tenor, soprano, etc, instead of a one-note tune.
So you won’t give specific examples.
The answer to the original OP is yes - and it remains a buzz word today . . . just like ‘co-fermented’, ‘carbonic’, ‘extended maceration’, and ‘less new oak’ 
Carbonic is both a buzz word and a pejorative.
But is it made by a collective?
But is it balanced?
The question is, is it picked earlier than everyone else?
This depends on the winemaker and the vineyard. Many old-vine, mixed black vineyards are indeed cofermented. Some are certainly not, but the winemakers are always doing what they believe is necessary to make the best wine from the site.
Regarding vineyard parcels vs. percentage in finished wine, one is counting grape vines and one is counting tonnage. I guess it’s true that in a truly field-blended wine the actual % is probably a WAG, unless someone wants to explain how it’s calculated.
Larry, et al, I am by no means bashing the wineries who source fruit from mixed variety plantings. I love them. I really, really do.
My purpose in Bumping this thread was to see how other wine aficionados viewed the practice, as well as the publicizing of wines derived from mixed vineyards.
+1
I have always been a fan of Jean Michel Deiss use of co-fermentation. While I don’t work with Zindandel, I am a big fan of the 2 white field blends that I make. The grapes are pressed together and fermented as a single wine(in multiple barrels).
My personal feeling, and not intending disrespect to other winemakers choices, is that this makes the best wines.
I like mixed black wines, but I can’t stand Deiss’ wines.
a field blend is grown in Austria’s capital city of Vienna, the most traditionally-grounded wine of the growing region, known there as Wiener Gemischter Satz, and is regulated with regard to content.
The statutory formulation concerning the Wiener Gemischter Satz stipulates that at least three white grape varieties – each eligible for production of Qualitätswein – must be planted in a Viennese vineyard listed in the cadastre of the Vienna Vineyard Land Register as a Wiener Gemischter Satz. The greatest proportion of any single grape variety may not exceed 50%, while the third-largest component must make up at least 10% of the material. Up to twenty various types of vine are planted and cultivated together. The most important of these are Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Chardonnay, Weissburgunder, Welschriesling and Neuburger, but aromatic varieties such as Müller Thurgau, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer and Gelber Muskateller are included as well. Coupled with the intrinsic characteristics of each individual vineyard site, a multiplicity of variations in flavour are created, all of which bear the unmistakeable signature of the city of Vienna.
As a wine in the Klassik category, without any more detailed geographic origin than Wien, a Wiener Gemischter Satz must be vinified dry without any detectable influence of cooperage, and may not contain more than 12.5% alcohol. If the label bears a vineyard designation, the wine must reflect – along with the natural aromatics of the grape varieties – the individual characteristics of the site. It must have a minimum alcohol content of 12.5%, and is not obliged to be finished bone-dry – the influence of cask treatment during vinification is permitted.
David, do you mind if I ask what vintages of Deiss wines you didn’t care for?
Early to mid-90s Schoenenberg bottlings from Deiss were among the best wines I have had from Alsace. However, I don’t drink them as much anymore because it seems like Deiss has moved beyond just biodynamics to low Sulpher wines. They are hit and miss these days with being oxidative(IMO) It also seems, IMO, that many wines from Alsace, including Deiss, are riper than they used to be. I have mostly moved to wines from the Nahe, Mosel, and Austria for the same varietals.
Regardless, My fruit is from Oregon so the result is different…and I do find that the co-fermentation process produces a remarkable lay integrated wine. If you like Riesling, you should at least keep an eye on Oregon, and if you like white wine from any of the regions I listed above, you should try the Matello Whistling Ridge. It may not be to your taste, but it’s a unique and interesting wine.
I’m not trying to sell you on my wine, but I enjoy your posts in general and respect your opinions.
I am not sure if this is the best thread to share the following article or not. Anyway, the premise of the 2019 ZAP “Flights!” event is fascinating: 100% Zinfandels, field blends, and grape varieties found in many interplanted vineyards.
Lodi Winegrape Commission Blog
“At ZAP’s 2019 “Flights!”: The Question of Blending vs. 100% Varietal Zinfandels”
by Randy Caparoso
January 22, 2019
"Are the best Zinfandels bottled as 100% varietals, or are they best as products of judicious blending with other wine grapes?
"The answer – going by our own tasting notes of 13 different Zinfandels presented during the formal, sit-down ‘Flights!’ tasting put on by ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) in the ballroom of San Francisco’s Palace Hotel this past January 18th – is probably this: It depends on each site, or particular vineyard, found within each appellation.
“…Each of the four 100% Zinfandels in ZAP’s ‘Mixed Black Magic’ event demonstrated their own fascinating sensory aesthetics: particularly the variations of berry fragrances and flavors that Zinfandel lovers find so alluring, plus structural intricacies (i.e. balances of alcohol, tannin, acidity, and sensations of both fruit and non-fruit qualities) that, in the way, made these wines even more explicitly expressive of their individual terroir (i.e., a ‘sense of place’ in wines, resulting directly from mostly environmental factors) than the examples of Zinfandel blends presented in this tasting…”
Joel Peterson presented a line-up of 4 flights, each highlighting a variety common in field blends: Zinfandel, Carignan, Petite Sirah, & Alicante Bouschet. Each wine’s producer discussed his/her wine and elaborated on topics like the usefulness of blending, the history of field blends, etc.
“Flights!” panel members:
• Diane Wilson (Matrix Winery)
• Bill Easton (Easton Wines)
• Tegan Passalcqua (Turley Wine Cellars)
• Stuart Spencer (St. Amant Winery)
• Mike McCay (McCay Cellars)
• Joel Peterson (Ravenswood Winery)
• Tiaan Lordon (Hartford Family Winery)
• Eric Baughter (Ridge Vineyards)
• Gary Sitton (Ravenswood Winery)
• Morgan Twain-Peterson (Bedrock Wine Co.)
• Ian Blackburn (Beekeeper Cellars)
• Ehren Jorday (Day Zinfandel)
We have a field blend that is unreleased (in barrel) that we did a cofermentation with and we would like to call it “Field Blend” on the label. This post has me worried about using that term now because clearly it is being misused! For me the justification for doing a cofermentation was to have better integration between all of the parts and also increase the percentage of Petite Verdot in the wine (since most people limit PV to ~5%). My feeling is that by cofermenting with the PV will integrate much better than being blended after aging so we will get a prettier, more elegant wine. It also ties your hands with regard to blending the final product (or removes the distress of having to choose the final blends!).
Yeah, a field blend usually results in a cofermentation (unless there is some serious effort in the picking…one variety at a time from inter planted vines), but a coferementation is not at all synonymous with the term field blend.