Tips For Blending Wine
TroubleShooting
Denise Packard — Prosser, Washington asks,
I’ve had the great luck to belong to a home winemaking group in Washington State where a lot of my fellow members make many different kinds of wine (I’m just starting out). We’ve got Access to Varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, and even Petite Sirah, which all grow pretty well here. In order to use up some of our small lots, and to make a creative challenge for ourselves, we’ve decided to pool our odd-duck kegs and carboys together and have a “Make the Best Blend” contest. The winning blend will be distributed amongst the participants with the winner getting bragging rights and a slightly larger number of bottles.
We’re all going to be given about 375 mLs of each possible component, a 10-mL pipette, and a 100-mL blending cylinder. Our components are all of the varieties I list above and they’re different ages too (like I said, it’s kind of the scraps). Some of them have some aged character but most are pretty fresh. We’re not forced to use all of them, but I need to create the best blend I can using what I’ve Got. Help me, Wine Wizard, you’re my only hope!