Primal Roots & The Art of Blending

A couple of months ago, a fellow wine friend nerd and I went down to a local wine bar in Orlando to bid him adieu as he had completed his summer internship was was returning to my Alma Mater in upstate NY. That night was more about enjoying some shared laughs then learning about weird off the wall wine (our typical past time), and thus we ordered what we thought was some simple, inexpensive, innocuous red wine.

Man, did our pompous sommelier preconceptions get a rightful slap in the face!

This wine lept out of the glass with an aroma of mocha, rich ripe red berry, jam, & spice. On the palate it WOWed as well, with a full body of dense black currant & raspberry fruit, luscious full palate mouth feel, & an excellent application of oak lending a nice vanilla note.

Awed, our geek sensibilities returned and we both reached for our iPhones to learn more about this mystical prodigy of value wines. When we reached its page on WineAccess.com (our go-to site when we are trying to price a particular wine), we turned to each other in gleeful disbelief. It only cost $6.95/bottle*.

I give you Primal Roots California Red Blend.

So what makes this wine sooo freaking delicious and sooo freaking cheap? It is the value of blending. Think of it like this:

Single varietal wines are like cooking pasta with garlic - just garlic. Don't get me wrong, I love garlic, but the likelihood of a pasta dish coming out memorable and awe-inspiring by just using garlic... well, you are going to need some pretty special garlic; and while I'm sure Whole Foods would be readily waiting to sell you special garlic at $20/oz, we have much smarter ways of making plain pasta taste yummy. Blended wines are like pasta sauce, a simple yet complex mix of several ingredients, garlic, tomatoes, oregano, & salt - each bringing their own talent to the table. You put a little too much tomatoes in? Eh, your good. Your oregano looking a little old & lackluster? No problem. The other ingredients help to hide any tiny flaws you may have in your ingredients & you still have a pretty scrumptious bowl of pasta.

That is why you can get pretty awesome blended wines for an even more awesome price tag, because the individual ingredients don't need to be the crem-de-la-crem in their own right. They just have to be average, do their part & make delicious pasta sauce.

So lets break down this blend:

• 43% Merlot: The Tomatoes. Merlot is the bulk of this wine and provides the base for the other grapes to play off of. Merlot specifically brings those notes of mocha, cherry, and the soft velvety mouth feel.
• 37% Syrah: The Oregano. Syrah commonly has more earthy notes with black pepper, and adds that little something that at times can be hard to pin down, especially in blends. It's beefier then the other ingredients (like meatballs!!), and provides the backbone of this blend.
• 20% Zinfandel: The Garlic & Salt. Zinfandel is known for being jammy & spicy (In the way Indian foods use spice, not chili pepper spice). As such, a little can go a long way. It also has a soft very full mouth feel.

Speaking of pasta, what should you eat with this lovely value? Well, not pasta per say, but dark roasted meats & veggies, such as juicy pork chops, duck, or even a bourbon glazed salmon. Overall, this is an excellent starter red that can actually stand up to a heavier dinner. This wine is only 13.5% alc. so it can handle a little black pepper, but I would stay away from anything too spicy.

On that note, keep a look out for a post on pairing techniques, but as for now, I wish you well & good wine :)

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*Total Wine prices at $10/bottle