🍷 Field blend

A field blend is wine made from different grape varieties that grow mixed together in one vineyard. They are picked, crushed and fermented together. This differs from an ordinary blend, where varieties are made separately and mixed afterwards.

The method is very old. Growers used to plant several varieties on one plot at once: if a year was bad for one grape, another saved the harvest. The varieties ripen at different times, and harvest falls on a shared day. The wines come out harmonious, with aroma built from all the varieties together.

The best-known example is the Viennese Gemischter Satz in Austria: in Vienna the rules require at least three varieties in a vineyard, picked and pressed together. Field blends are also found in Portugal, for example in old vineyards of the Douro Valley. They are related to the blend and to Gemischter Satz as the name of this wine. They are also called mixed plantings.