🍇 Blends and varietal wines

Blending is a normal way to make wine. EU Delegated Regulation 2019/934 regulates mixing wines or musts of different origin, variety, vintage or category, and forbids making a rosé by mixing white and red wines without PDO or PGI. Many famous wines are blends: Bordeaux of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc; the southern Rhône of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre (GSM).

A varietal wine names one grape. Under Delegated Regulation 2019/33 the label may show one variety if at least 85 % of the wine comes from it, and two or more only if 100 % of the wine is made from them, listed in descending order and in letters of the same size. A vintage may be shown if at least 85 % of the grapes were harvested in that year. Wines without PDO or PGI that show a variety or vintage must be certified.

A field blend is wine from different varieties grown together in one plot and fermented together, as in Wiener Gemischter Satz. “Table wine” is the old name for wine without a geographical indication; today it is simply “wine”. Super Tuscan is an unofficial name for Tuscan wines made outside the old DOC rules.

Why it matters to you. One variety on the label means at least 85 %, not 100 %. WHO: no safe level of alcohol exists.