Are blended wines better than unblended?

If you’re at a restaurant and don’t recognise any of the wines, is the safest selection always a blend?
R.Z., Wodonga, Vic

Credit: Simon Letch

There are so many choices in wine these days, you might as well close your eyes and stab your finger at the wine list. Even we pros can’t keep up with them all. This applies especially in restaurants, many of which seem to intentionally restrict their offerings to fringe producers whose names aren’t widely known.

There are several pet theories on how to select a decent wine when you’re in a restaurant and feeling completely stumped. Choosing the second-cheapest vino on the wine list is one example (why spend top-dollar when you’re not a connoisseur? On the other hand, you don’t want to look cheap). None of these theories hold water, however.

Are blended wines better than unblended? This assumes that you can tell which wines are blended and which are not, and that’s not so simple. That said, I have sympathy with the theory that a blended wine is more likely to be of good quality because the winemaker has used the art of blending to put together a wine that ticks all the boxes and actually tastes good.

The alternative is relying on a single vineyard or single grape variety which, theoretically, could be less likely to yield a balanced and appealing wine every year. Certainly, the good ol’ Aussie blend, cabernet shiraz, works so well and is often my preference over a given winery’s straight shiraz or straight cabernet sauvignon.

There can be blends of grape varieties, blends of regions and blends of vineyards, or any combination of the above. The current fascination with individual vineyard wines is tied up with the idea of terroir and the desire of winemakers to produce a wine that speaks of their vineyard and which has, therefore, a kind of uniqueness.

That’s a separate idea to the notion of quality or even drinking appeal. It depends what you want as a wine-lover: a wine that is indicative of a place or a grape variety or a certain winemaker’s hand – or a wine that just tastes good. And the latter, as we all know, is a subjective judgment.

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