Weekly Wine Quiz #97: Grape Trivia – Blends, Part 1
The Wine Quiz series is not meant to intimidate. The whole idea here is to have fun and learn something new. When answering the questions, it is fully encouraged to use all available sources of information, including Google or any other search engine. There are no embarrassing answers – the most embarrassing thing is not giving it a try…
Welcome to the weekend and your new wine quiz!
We are continuing our grape trivia series, but changing gear slightly. Until now, we talked only about specific grapes – each weekly quiz was dedicated to one and only one grape, whether it was red or white. Of course some of the questions included mentions of the blends, but still, the single varietal was a star. For the next few quizzes, I want to change that. Most of the wines we drink are blends. So why don’t we talk about blends for a while? Let’s mix things up.
At this point, as I’m not entirely sure yet of the exact direction. Below you will find 5 random questions regarding blending of the grapes – in the particular wines, and in particular regions. We are not going to focus on a single region, and will be blending both red and white grapes. Some questions might also be just opposites of the blends. We shall see. And yes, please comment and let me know what you think.
And now, to the quiz!
Q1: Which grape is missing?
– Cabernet Sauvignon
– Merlot
– Cabernet Franc
– ?
– Petit Verdot
Q2: Wines of this region, made out of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, considered some of the best white wines in the world. Can you name that region?
Q3: This wine might be the biggest officially sanctioned blend of the grapes in the world. Do you know what wine is that?
Q4: This simple wine is classified as a field blend. This is probably best known European white field blend wine. Now:
a. Can you explain what field blend is?
b. Can you name this wine?
Q5: This wine, one of the most famous in the world, is often made from 70% Cabernet Franc and 30% Merlot. Do you know what wine is that?
Good luck, enjoy the quiz and your weekend! Cheers!
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Talk-A-Vino 
1. Malbec
2. Sauternes
3. Not sure what you mean by “biggest” but I assume you mean the most permitted number of varieties. In that case, I will go with Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
4. A field blend is when different varieties are grown and harvested together and then all co-fermented. I believe you are talking about White Port here.
5. I will have to go with Cheval Blanc here, but the blend bounces around quite a bit.
Nice work, Jeff, as expected : )
Fun! These are all total guesses. Looking forward to the answers.
Q1 – Syrah
Q2 – Sancerre
Q3 – Meritage
Q4 – No clue. Maybe mixing the grape types as they are picked?
Q5 – Grand Cru?
Thanks for playing, Matt! The answers are coming on Wednesday.
Shouldn’t port be the answer for Q3? Over 100 varietials are allowed.
correction…82, not 100
well, as they say in Turbo Tax, “this is not common” : ) Yes, I see that 82 varieties are allowed to be used in the production of the Port – it doesn’t mean that 82 varieties are blended together to make Port. Most of the good port wines are made out of 6 major grapes, sometimes even less, depending on the harvest. The wine I’m asking about in the question has often all of the allowed grapes actually blended together (and the number is larger than 6).
Having said all that – thank you, lesson learned – I will have to formulate the questions with a lot higher precision.
1- Malbec
2- Sauternes
3- (I had a hunch but totally googled this) When two grape varieties are planted in the same field for inexpensive blending purposes ex: Apparently some wines of the Douro are field blends
4- Thinking St Emilion… Cheval Blanc?! Was watching “Dragon’s Den” in Canada and guess who made an appearance. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BRMoHPiCYAAWlKD.jpg
Excellent work, thanks for playing!
oups forgot this one:
This wine might be the biggest officially sanctioned blend of the grapes in the world. Do you know what wine is that? Chateauneuf.
Great, I wanted to ask you about the missing one : )
1. Malbec
2. Probably Sauternes
3. Well as far as I know at least 19 grape varieties are allowed in Valle d’Aosta DOC wines. So I’m going with Valle d’Aosta DOC.
4. A) Field blend = more than 1 grape variety is grown in the same vineyard. B) White Port is a field blend I believe.
5. I can only think of lots of great wines that are produced with 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc.. So now I’m very curious what the name of the wine is and so I’m looking forward to your answer 🙂
Great quiz, Anatoli. I think your idea of making a quiz for wine blends is fantastic. Cheers!
Thanks, Julian! Glad you like it! But I can tell you now, some of my questions should’ve been more precise – I will be in the hot water when I will publish the answers 🙂 Excellent work, as usual.
1. Malbec
2. Sauternes (or Washington! 🙂 )
4A. A field blend is when several grape varieties are planted in the same field. It was more common when there wasn’t a way to type the vines. It is less common now.
The rest I will leave to more knowledgeable minds…
Great, thanks for playing! Answers are coming on Wednesday.
I look forward to the answers, I am working on my continuing ed course in real estate, time consuming and boring but have to do it. Next quiz I’ll participate.
no worries, they will be coming! : )