California mavericks – blended wines

See California Wine Summit – a guide.

Patrick Comiskey of Wine & Spirits magazine selected and introduced this California Summit tasting of blended wines, along with several of the winemakers whose wines were in the line up – and who were itching to get back to the winery to deal with just-harvested fruit. He began with a brief summary of the history of blending in California, from which the following is taken. Comiskey, incidentally, is working on a book on California blending past and present.

California has had a long history of varietal blending, beginning almost with the first...