More Thoughts about "Bordeaux Style" Blends

Last week, after my blog, I received the following email from Jim Waite, co-owner (with wife Karen and son Joel) of CAVU Cellars.

"I agree with your take on Bordeaux-style. However, in our tasting room I often have customers refer to our Horizon Red (Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot blend) as a table wine which seems to set an expectation of a lower priced wine. How do we overcome this in Washington without getting on the Meritage bandwagon?"

I replied:

"That's a good question. "Table Wine" or "Red Wine" does have a connotation of lower price and quality. An analogous situation is Tuscany, where the "Super Tuscans" had to be labeled "Vino da Tavola" because they were not made only from the prescribed grapes, Sangiovese and Canaiolo. But as awareness of the high quality of some wines that included Cabernet Sauvignon such as Sassacaia grew, a designation called indicazione geographica tipica (IGT) has established placing such wines in a separate category from Vino da Tavola. For Washington State, this is a marketing issue. The approach seems to vary from winery to winery. Some try to do t he "Bordeaux-style" blend approach, or do a proprietary name approach. I think a lot depends on the quality and the reputation of the winery."

As for the "Meritage bandwagon" mentioned above by Jim Waite, there are some Washington Wineries (about 20) that opt for the Meritage approach. For some time, Ch. Ste. Michelle has produced an "Artist Series" Meritage and Shannon Jones' Hestia Cellars turns out a fine Meritage (see the May 2010 Review issue). But, to me, Meritage has a Californian connotation (it was started there in the late '80's) and the Meritage Alliance website calls their wines "Exceptional Wines Blended in the Bordeaux Tradition." I have to ask why Bordeaux? Is it because is the most prestigious wine producing region in the world?

This brings me back to my statement in last week's blog that "Washington wineries should stress the qualities that make our state's wines truly distinctive." Washington wines need not be continually related to European or other counterparts. In previous postings, I have compared Washington Cabernet Franc to its Loire Valley counterparts and our Malbecs to those of Cahors. But that doesn't mean they should be labeled or promoted as "French style."

This seems to be part of a growing movement to market Washington wines as "European" style ones. Just today, I read Paul Gregutt's blog about McCrea cellars putting out a Spanish-style Tempranillo wines and blends of the grape with Garnacha and Monastrell. I haven't tasted the wines called "Salida," but I know Doug McCrea makes great wines. But why present it as a "Spanish-style" wine? Isenhower Cellars, likewise puts out a fine "El Conquistador" wine and Brian Carter an also excellent "Corrida." But I like Kerloo Cellars (Ryan and Renee Crane) approach better in just calling its Tempranillo - "Tempranillo."

Washington State is emerging as one of the great wine producing areas of the world, but isn't it about time to make its wines more unique instead of presenting them as "_______- style" wines?