There’s nothing like a great night with friends. One of those nights where you look at the people around you and think: Yes. This. We are 100% going to remember this night when we are 80 and sitting in our homes surrounded by cats (just me?).
Then there are the nights when no one can decide what to do and you end up having impromptu dance parties to classic jams like “Shake Yo Tailfeather,” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which is more along the lines of the kinds of nights that come to mind when drinking the Hey Mambo 2012 “Sultry Red” blend.
This wine came into my life at a time when things were…not great.
For the past seven years I’ve driven an orange 2008 Honda Fit named Mabel. Mabel’s a trooper- I drove her from CA to Auburn AL, and from Auburn to Nashville, and she made several trips between southern California and my hometown during college. Sadly, Mabel met her end a couple weeks ago when I was attempting to turn out of my driveway onto a busy street.
Luckily, I have pretty awesome friends, so while I was sitting wallowing in my bad luck, they brought me wine to cheer me up. Hey Mambo is courtesy of my awesome roommate Jenny (which could actually be either of my roommates since I live with two people named Jenny…), and considering she doesn’t drink wine, she did a pretty great job.
Like my group of friends, this wine is a little mismatched… it’s basically a bunch of varietals rolled into one package. The thing about blends is that they usually produce some pretty great, drinkable wines, and according to The Other Guys, who make Hey Mambo, this particular blend is 58% Merlot, 14% Petite Sirah, 10% Zinfandel, 9% Syrah, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Tannat, 1% Petit Verdot.
One of the reasons winemakers tend to blend is because different varietals are good at balancing each other out and often make smoother, easier drinking wines. So for example, if you have a Malbec, (which tends to be pretty fruity with a softer finish), you can blend it with Cab Sauv, (which isn't as fruity but has a pretty lingering finish -i.e. you can still kinda taste it when you’re done drinking it) and the blend is pretty nicely balanced. OR, to take this back to the friendship metaphor, it’s like if you're not great at singing karaoke alone, but when you duet Strawberry Wine with a friend you're actually not that bad... like maybe not good enough for an encore, but at least pretty decent.
Also, most blends are regional, so typically when you drink a blend, the wines will all be grown in the same area before they are blended together.
Let me break that down: In the Bordeaux region of France, blends are typically made from five major grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot). When you’ve got those wines blended together, it’s referred to as a Bordeaux. Same thing with a Cotes-du-Rhone- it’s a blend of wines from the Rhone region. Make sense? Sort of?
However, while these regional blending rules still apply when it comes to “Old World” wines (wines that come from countries with crazy long histories of wine growing… we’ll look at these in a future post), when it comes to a lot of American “New World” wines, it's more of an “anything goes” culture. Got some Cab? Mix it with some Syrah and see how it does. Feel like blending Petite Sirah and Zinfandel? Get it. Winemakers are finding that sometimes interesting and drinker-friendly blends can be created from playing around with different wines from different regions, and that's how we end up with a blend like the Sultry Red.
In the glass, this one’s actually pretty dark red. Maybe because it’s got Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, and Tannat (which are all fairly dark, intensely flavored wines) blended with Cab Sauv, Syrah, and Zinfandel (none of which are slouches in the bold department)- but it definitely shows up in the glass. Since it’s Merlot heavy, it’s got a lot of fruit flavors, and also this sort of orangey molasses smell (which I promise is a lot better than the description sounds…).
If you look closely, you can see my face!
Taste-wise, this one's a little on the lighter side, it's got more of a berry flavor, kind of like whatever a blend between a raspberry and blackberry would be (a blaspberry? rackberry? Names tbd).
OUR RATING: Easy drinking weeknight red. Perfect with dinner, after dinner, or while cooking dinner. It's just that versatile.
I'D DRINK THIS:
At a picnic with fancy cheese
During a game night with friends, maybe with some Cards Against Humanity. Maybe also with fancy cheese.
Late summer outdoor cookout, after the guac but before the margaritas.
With cake. Preferably chocolate, but really it's cake so who cares.