Some years ago, stranded in Greenfield, Massachusetts by the wrath of hurricane Irene, and eager for some supper and a bit of company, I popped into The People’s Pint, a celebrated watering hole where the brewing arts are taken very seriously indeed. I watched from my seat at the zinc as the barkeep cheerfully mixed one draft beer with another right at the taps. Several blends of this sort were posted on the drinks list, others improvised on the spot. It occurred to me that this never happens with wine.
Winemakers routinely vinify individual lots of wine separately with the intention of creating components they can later combine into well-tempered blends. These lots may be from the same estate, purchased from neighbors or from contract growers. Historically, the aim of blending is to make a more salable, complete, drinkable wine. As a bartender, sommelier or consumer, however, mixing wine at the point of service is taboo. Why is that, exactly? How have we arrived at this strange and rather stifling state of affairs?
One idea is that it’s a response to wine’s long, sordid history of tampering and adulteration. Selling wine in individual bottles sealed with cork made it harder to mess with once it left its source, and may well have contributed to the belief that any manipulation of wine post-bottling constituted a kind of fraud.
Another thought is that, living as we do in the age of winemaker as genius, we’ve all become convinced that these extraordinary individuals alone possess the talent, skill, and good taste to decide what you and I will drink. While it’s fine for them to tinker to their heart’s content (and they do), it’s out of the question for us to take this holy office into our own hands – to participate, even in this very modest way, in the making of our own wine.
“Ah,” you say, “but some wines are too good to be meddled with by amateurs.” I agree, but only a tiny amount of wine fits this description. Basic, soundly-made varietal wines could serve as ingredients in all kinds of combinations with results that might be both surprising and delightful. Daring to play vintner could teach us a lot about wine we wouldn’t otherwise learn.
I have the feeling that one of these days some fearless cocktail jockey (it won’t be a sommelier) is going to look in the direction of the wine cellar and wonder what could be done with the materials stored there. And when that happens, mixing one wine with another at the point of consumption will no longer be a taboo. It will be a trend.
-Stephen Meuse