What comes to mind when you hear the word "blend"?
Is it coffee after all?
When I was little and heard adults ordering "a blend" at a coffee shop, I didn't really understand why, but I thought it sounded cool.
I guess they felt that ordering in technical terms was more mature.
When I started drinking coffee, I learned that a blend is a combination of beans from different places that create a balanced flavor.
However, after hearing a coffee shop popular with young people say, "We only sell single-origin coffee (a type of coffee that enjoys the differences between beans from different regions), but when older people come in they usually ask for a blend, so we have to explain it to them every time," I began to think that perhaps "blend" is becoming an old-fashioned coffee shop term.
Come to think of it, most of the people at our restaurant who say, "I'll have it draft for now" are people over a certain age.
I see. Now that I think about it, that coffee shop and my shop might be similar.
They explain every time, "We have three types of beer, two of which are craft beer, and you can choose from two sizes."
As time goes on, I think that every genre will become more subdivided and specialized.
Now, blend.
Blending is very important in the world of wine.
Blending multiple wines to create a unique flavor is a standard method in the traditional country of France.
Producers make a base wine for each grape variety, such as Wine A, Wine B, and Wine C.
Then, taking into account the quality of each base wine that year, the blender decides the ratios and blends the wines in large tanks before bottling.
This creates a depth of flavor that cannot be achieved with a single variety. Another advantage is that adjusting the blend ratio makes it easier to achieve a consistent flavor every year.
On the other hand, there are many wines that are unadjusted and unblended. Many producers in emerging wine countries are adopting this single varietal style.
Why? Blending can certainly create complex flavors. However, there is a common understanding among wine lovers around the world that "this variety tastes like this."
So, if there is a mark on the label indicating that it is made from a single variety, wine lovers will think, "Oh, I like this variety, so I think I'll buy it."
Many French blended wines do not state the grape variety on the label, making it difficult for those who want to choose based on the variety.
That's why, as a non-traditional country, many wineries adopt a strategy of making wine using a single variety that is easy to understand and clearly labeling it in order to compete (although in reality there are rules that allow them to mix in small amounts of other varieties).
However, there are also people who are taking advantage of this trend of "emerging countries being single."
No, it's not interesting to have a single wine. There are new producers who are creating unique blends that are not bound by conventional wisdom and making wines that are one of a kind in the world. This is also interesting.
Blending is the norm. → Then we'll compete by not blending. → No, we'll do our own blend.
When I look at this trend in wine, I get the feeling that human activities are a way of creating something new as a counterattack against previous eras.
The New Zealand wines that we deal with have always been overwhelmingly easy-to-understand single-varietal wines, but recently some that are not have started to appear.
At a tasting and trade fair held in Tokyo recently, a wine with a label like this one, "I don't really understand it, but it somehow had an atmosphere," was on display.
The one on the far right. It looks like a stylish shirt pattern. I wonder what the motif is. A leaf? A guitar?
It says the grape varieties used are Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Hmm, I have no idea what it tastes like.
That's good. It's interesting.
Even in New Zealand, which tends to be somewhat conservative, we are seeing crazy things like this. As someone who likes rebellious people, I want to support them.
By the way, this is completely unrelated, but for me these days, blending is all about hair styling products.
Now that I'm in my fifties, my hair has lost its strength and become limp, so to tame it, I blend two types of wax in the palm of my hand every day.
This blend has taken many years to perfect, and I'm sure no manufacturer could create it, so I enjoy it and rub it all over my hair.
Huh? How stubborn.
