As you said, Dan, terrior is the expression of place. However, it would seem that the interpretation of place is up to the place, the vineyard manager, the winemaker and also, the wine drinker. The winemaker strives to get the perfect expression from a vineyard. If successful, it can be a great wine. Does that make it more or less of a wine than a great blend? Not in my opinion.
If the true expression of a vineyard is a particular taste of raspberry and a wine drinker doesn't care for that flavor, the drinker may not like the wine. If the consumer is always right, does that make the wine not good? No. But what if that wine is blended with another vineyard whose expression is blackberry and the resulting wine tastes like boysenberry which the wine drinker loves? Does that make the wine good? No. The point of this absurd analogy is that wine appreciation is an individual thing. Don't we all have friends who generally like the same wine we do but every now and then we have completely different reactions to the same wine? Individualism at work.
Single vineyard wines hit great highs with that particular expression of their place. Many times, that single expression is intense but can also be (but not necessarily be) more one-dimensional. Some blends seem to have more complexity because of the multi-sourcing. If wine is blended and all the sources are great, the resulting blend can also be great - as in the KB appellation wines. If a winery maintains great quality control, they can produce great single vineyards or great blends - again, as KB does. Unfortunately, too many times blends are the result of a decision on what to do with inferior juice.
Here's a question for you - can blending create synergies in wine? Can the resulting blend be greater than the sum of the sources? I tend to doubt it because I do believe that to make great wine you have to start with great grapes but just because you start with great grapes doesn't mean you'll make great wine. On the other hand, can the resulting complexity be a plus over any/all of the individual sources?
But what do I know? I work in an office. I do know that I LOVE your wine.
Terroir
As you said, Dan, terrior is the expression of place. However, it would seem that the interpretation of place is up to the place, the vineyard manager, the winemaker and also, the wine drinker. The winemaker strives to get the perfect expression from a vineyard. If successful, it can be a great wine. Does that make it more or less of a wine than a great blend? Not in my opinion.
If the true expression of a vineyard is a particular taste of raspberry and a wine drinker doesn't care for that flavor, the drinker may not like the wine. If the consumer is always right, does that make the wine not good? No. But what if that wine is blended with another vineyard whose expression is blackberry and the resulting wine tastes like boysenberry which the wine drinker loves? Does that make the wine good? No. The point of this absurd analogy is that wine appreciation is an individual thing. Don't we all have friends who generally like the same wine we do but every now and then we have completely different reactions to the same wine? Individualism at work.
Single vineyard wines hit great highs with that particular expression of their place. Many times, that single expression is intense but can also be (but not necessarily be) more one-dimensional. Some blends seem to have more complexity because of the multi-sourcing. If wine is blended and all the sources are great, the resulting blend can also be great - as in the KB appellation wines. If a winery maintains great quality control, they can produce great single vineyards or great blends - again, as KB does. Unfortunately, too many times blends are the result of a decision on what to do with inferior juice.
Here's a question for you - can blending create synergies in wine? Can the resulting blend be greater than the sum of the sources? I tend to doubt it because I do believe that to make great wine you have to start with great grapes but just because you start with great grapes doesn't mean you'll make great wine. On the other hand, can the resulting complexity be a plus over any/all of the individual sources?
But what do I know? I work in an office. I do know that I LOVE your wine.
Thanks for this year's allocation!
Fred