White Meritage Blended Wines

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Summary: White Meritage is a type of blended wine. Learn what tastes and aromas to look for in a White Meritage wine from an expert sommelier in this free specialty wine video.

Views: 398 | Tags: wine, tasting, sommelier, beverages, alcoholic, blended, wines, tasters, exerperts

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About the Expert

Jane Nickles Jane Nickles is the author of "Wine Speak 101." She is also a wine writer for "The Texas Wine and Food Gourmet" and "Eat and Drink Magazine." Jane is a certi... read more

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Video Transcript

White Meritage Blended Wines

When people say "Meritage", they usually are talking about a red wine. Red Meritage is very popular. It's a blended wine. It's very complex and interesting, and all kinds of American and New World wine producers like to make a red Meritage. However, there does exist a white Meritage. And a white Meritage is a white wine made in the blended style and with the grape varieties of Bordeaux. Not as widely produced but a delicious wine, and sometimes offered at very reasonable prices. It's also an interesting story about wine blending, because a white Meritage is a blend of two grapes, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Sauvignon Blanc is very, very tart and acidic and very fruity. Alone it makes one of my favorite wines, but it's a little bit too tart and acidic for some people. Semillon, when it's alone, makes a very low acid wine, kind of a smooth, rich wine with a texture we call lanolin and very forward flavors of melon and peach and apricot. So it might make sense that to make a good blend, we take a very tart, crisply acidic wine and blend it with a very smooth, low acid wine. When we put those two together, we have a very nice balance of flavors, and we do. And obviously, the wine makers in Bordeaux have known that for hundreds of years. They've been combining Sauvignon Blanc with Semillon for centuries. Now in the New World, we make the same blend, Semillon Sauvignon. We call it white Meritage, and I bet you it's going to be one of your new favorite wines.