Pinot Noir blends

[RichardFlack]

Am I correct that blending for reds is not that common? And if so why the difference compared to Champagne where it’s pretty common.

[Emery_A]

I suppose you mean blended with a red variety. But Pinot Noir blended with Pinot Gris makes a wonderfully light red wine. See, e.g., Championship Bottle Broken Radios Whistling Ridge Vineyard.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

I think that pinot noir blends well with Algerian Syrah.

I have had Bourgogne Passetougrains. There are many respectable producers who bottle it. I do not remember the producers (there were at least two) that were pouring it at a Crush Wines tasting about12 years ago. I found it to be OK, and generally inoffensive, but not worth seeking out. If from a good producer, I would classify it as, “A wine that I would be glad to see being poured at a large wedding of non-geeks.”

Does pinotage count as a pinot noir blend because it is a pinot noir/cinsault cross.

[S_t_e_p_h_e_nK]

I’ve had a Pinot and Pinot Gris blend that was a red wine. The winemaker had received grapes that had been picked later than he wanted and added some Gris to provide lift. It actually worked well.

[Bweiss]

I had an Evening Land passetoutgrain that was really impressive last summer. I always had it in my head that Pinot isn’t a grape to mix with others, but that wine showed me otherwise.

[Chris_Seiber]

There are some last threads on this you ca. read through if you want

Pinot & Syrah Together? What was Domaine Serene Thinking

In my earlier days of exploring wine, I did like the Rubaiyat by Cakebread, which was a mid priced blend of mostly pinot with something like 10-20% Syrah. I think the blend varied from year to year and sometimes bits of other varieties are thrown in. I recall liking it as an easy drinking, spicy red that was good pairing for the grill. But I haven’t had it in a very long time.

Pinot Noir - Why isn't it in red blends?

I’ve had some different vintages of Cakebread’s “Rubaiyat” over the years, which is a syrah-pinot blend, some years including zinfandel, merlot and/or other varieties in the blend, and it’s quite a good and interesting wine. Domaine Alfred (now Chamisal winery) used to make an inexpensive pinot-syrah blend called the DA Red, that was a solid quaffer for $10-15. My guesses as to why you don’t see it more often would be (a) the cost, as several people noted above, and (b) that it’s just not trad…

Pinot Noir Blends -- Any Good Ones?

I saw that Cakebread just released their new vintage (2011?) of the Rubaiyat, a blend of pinot and syrah (I think usually something like 2/1 ratio), sometimes with other varieties included in the blend varying from vintage to vintage. I’ve liked this wine in the past, and the QPR at around $30 is good, if not exceptional. I even had a magnum once that was maybe 5 years after release, and it had aged pretty well for that period of time. Domaine Alfred (now called Chamisal Estate) used to sell …

I don’t say that to imply it’s not a good topic for a new thread, but just adding those for any information they have.

[for some reason, the links seem to be to my post in those threads, but scroll up and read the whole thread, I wasn’t meaning to highlight my posts in particular.]

[etomasi]

Castelli in Sonoma makes a Pinot-Nebbiolo-sangiovese blend. Very glou-glou. Also alot of Jura reds are some blend of Pinot, Trousseau, and Ploussard.

I would imagine that Mondeuse might be in some esoteric swiss red blends. Think that would work well if its not. Also, I think a Pinot-nerello Mascalese blend would be solid as well, but I’ve never seen one.

and of course, people have always whispered about Syrah smuggled into burgundy to blend into bad vintages for back in the 70s and earlier

[Marcus_Goodfellow]

Great post. I love the PN Mondeuse idea, and the Jura blends can be really enjoyable. I think some of the Austrian varieties might work well too, St. Laurent, possibly even Blaufrankisch.

Toroldego, Freisa, and your Nerello Mascarese choice also would be fun choices.

And then there was a Napa winemaker I was speaking with years ago who referenced, off the record, the idea that there was a reasonable amount of Syrah in a decent number of CA Pinot Noirs (California labeling requirements are 75% to label a bottle varietally, so 25% can be other varietals).

[Jdbramm]

I love pinot noir blended with chardonnay and pinot meunier

[John_Morris]

@RichardFlack

Am I correct that blending for reds is not that common? And if so why the difference compared to Champagne where it’s pretty common.

?

Lots of great reds are blends, beginning with virtually all red Bordeaux and Chateauneuf du Pape and almost all other Southern Rhones and, in the New World, GSM wines. A significant number of Cote Rotie producers include some viognier, and Hermitage allows some white grapes.

Traditionally, Chianti was a blend of several red grapes and some white was required. Today it’s mostly sangiovese, but can have cab or merlot of indigenous Tuscan grapes.

Many Catalan reds. Rioja (mostly tempranillo, but generally a small share of other grapes). Likewise, in Portugal, Dao wines and Port are blends.

Also wines like Ridge Lytton Springs and Geyserville (mostly zin, but several other grapes), which are in a long tradition of “field blends.”

[Chris_Seiber]

Yes, blending is far more common than single varietal wines in the world among red wines, I would guess.

Even when new world wines are labeled as a varietal, they can still have small percentages of other grapes blended in. Most California cabernet is not 100% cabernet, for example.

I think whites have a far higher likelihood of being single varietal wines around the world than reds.

Pinot noir, however, is almost always 100% pinot noir when it’s labeled as such. I guess because Burgundy is the mother ship for pinot noir, and that’s how they do it.

[RichardFlack]

Sorry I should have been more clear - the thread is about blending Pinot Noir specifically for red wine. Im not aware of many examples, versus the commonality in (white) Champagne and I was wondering why (or am I wrong about PN red blends)

Yes we all know all kinds of other reds are blended.

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

I tried an oregon pinot blend at an informal tasting recently, forgot to take note of the name, maybe cheval merde? Wasn’t great.

[PeterH]

I can get behind a young, light, un-oaked Pinot Noir blended with Pinot Gris for a patio wine on a summer day.
I’ve done it myself from two bottles on the table, and had it with grilled salmon.

Mixed with other reds, it loses everything I like about PN.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

This was truly excellent, although maybe doesn’t qualify because Pinot Noir only comprises 10% of the blend?

2014 Gen del Alma Otra Piel - Argentina, Mendoza, Valle de Uco, Gualtallary (1/24/2018)
– decanted approximately 45 minutes before initial taste –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –
– 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Pinot Noir –

NOSE: “dark”; strong cigar wrapper note; juicy tobacco and leather; a touch musky; moderately expressive.

BODY: medium bodied.

TASTE: medium+ to high acidity; juicy purple berries with hints of red berries; ripe fruit; a touch jammy; very interesting; a little bit of the Cab. Franc pyrazines; tobacco; 14.5% alc.; this is very excellent and interesting. Probably the best Argentinian wine I’ve ever had (granted, not that many). Excellent QPR @ $27.

50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92 (92 pts.)

[Ben_M_a_n_d_l_e_r]

• 2010 Bannockburn Douglas - Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Geelong (12/7/2014)
  Tasted blind. Pinot came through strongly on the nose, Cab more on palate. Quite bright and fruity but well structured, round, balanced and fairly long. And at 12% you can drink it all night. A pleasure, but definitely more bright than deep. 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Shiraz, 18% Pinot Noir, 9% Merlot, 6% Malbec. 12% abv, $25. (90 points)

Posted from CellarTracker

[Otto_Forsberg]

@etomasi

Also alot of Jura reds are some blend of Pinot, Trousseau, and Ploussard.

This was what I was thinking.

@etomasi

I would imagine that Mondeuse might be in some esoteric swiss red blends.

That would need to be extremely esoteric, since they don’t really grow any Mondeuse in Switzerland. They do grow it on the Swiss border, but apart from a few scattered plots in Vaud, the plantings remain virtually exclusively on the French side, in Savoie.

[Wes_Barton]

It’s an excellent blending grape, where it can play a role similar to Grenache. That doesn’t make financial sense, in most cases. Declassified lots can make it into wineries’ daily drinker odds-and-ends blend or some creative one-off.

[N.Lehto]

I’ve had some Pinot Noir and Gamay blends as Passetoutgrains but also from other parts of France that has been nice.

In Austria blending with Pinot Noir is quite common - usually with Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch. Those can be quite nice.

[John_Morris]

Isn’t one of the reasons that pinot isn’t blended more (apart from the economic factors Wes mentions) is that it can be easily dominated by other grapes in a blend and be lost? That happens with Chianti, where sangiovese can be completely dominated by even relatively small portions (say, 10%) of cab or merlot.