Bonjour
and thank you for purchasing the Raymond Vineyards Wine At Home Blending Kit!
When we launched Winemaker for a Day at our tasting room in Napa Valley, it quickly became our most popular wine experience and gave our guests a chance to learn the winemaker’s craft while blending their own bottle of wine. This at-home blending kit enables you to take that experience and bring it into your own home. Share the excitement of this unique craft, creating your own wine with your friends and family and impress them all by producing a wine worthy of sharing with the world. Once you’ve mastered your blend, contact the winery and we will produce and bottle your wine, saving your blend for you to easily re-order again and again … and if you desire, modify it as you wish!
- Stephanie Putnam, Winemaker and Jean-Charles Boisset, Proprietor
dare to impress! dare to blend!
Why do Winemakers Blend? • Blending is, in a sense, like cooking, because you are using different components or ingredients to come up with a harmonious, balanced flavor in the end. • There are several ways a wine could be a blend. It could be a: - Blend of different varietals - Blend of the same varietal grown in different places - Blend of the same varietal made in different ways (i.e. different types of oak barrels). • The flavor of a blend is hard to predict, which is why winemakers do not have recipes. Each year winemakers have to taste all of the varieties and all of the lots blind and separately to arrive at that year’s final blend. • Blending a wine is different than blending foods in, say, a soup. A winemaker makes a blend now, but she has to imagine what that blend will taste like two years from now. Blending can be downright mysterious.
What is Provided in the Kit? •4
bottles of Napa Valley wine (1 bottle of each – Cabernet Sauvignon in new oak, Cabernet Sauvignon in neutral oak, Merlot, Cabernet Franc) • Tasting placemats labeled with varietal (one per guest) • Graduated cylinders (one per guest) • Pipettes (one per guest)
What Else is Needed?
Pen (one per guest) • Calculator • Wine glasses (5 per guest) • Spit cups (for those who wish to stay clear headed throughout the blending session!) • Paper towels for wiping up drips and spills •
STEP 1 Before you start — • Blend in a well-lit room so that you and your guests can effectively evaluate the color of the wine. • Make sure to have enough room for all of the blending equipment and for guests to be seated comfortably. • Set out a blending mat, pipette, graduated cylinder, water glass and spit cup for each person along with five glasses per person. • Open the wine before the party to ensure it breathes adequately and pour before guests enter the room. One glass will remain empty to serve as their blending glass. • Pour enough wine (2 oz.) for guests to taste each varietal and use for their blended wines.
DID YOU KNOW? Constant tasting can fatigue the palate! Be sure to provide plenty of spit cups along with water and crackers to cleanse the palate.
STEP 2 Let’s Begin — • Explain to guests that wine blending is the art of mixing two or more varietals together to produce a consistent, high-quality finished wine. • Discuss the many reasons for blending: - Enhancing the aroma - Improving the color - Adding or minimizing the flavors or tastes • Let guests know that this is their chance to be winemakers for a day and that they will be creating their own blend while furthering their understanding of the winemaker’s role, responsibilities and skills. • Don’t forget to have fun!
DID YOU KNOW? Some of the most famous wines in the world are blends of various vineyards and varietals!
STEP 3 Let’s Taste — • As you taste each wine, think about the aromas and flavors of the wine and how it may add to your final blend. We have provided varietal descriptions on the following pages to help you in this process. • Have your guests taste each varietal as they are being explained out loud. • Taste together as a group, identifying and discussing the various characteristics and nuances of the wine. • Encourage them to write notes on the color, aromas, flavor and texture so they can be referenced during the blending exercise.
DID YOU KNOW? Our French oak comes from trees in the cooler region of France. The cool temperatures lead to slow growing oaks with tight grain. The tight grain means that wine takes on oak flavors slowly, so the wine isn’t overpowered by the oak flavors.
Varietal Descriptions • Cabernet Sauvignon is known as the “king” of red varietals because it provides structure to the wine, which means it can feel dry and immense on the palate. Cabernet Sauvignon provides the backbone to the blend because of its structure and firm tannins. Cabernet’s key flavors are cassis, tobacco, leather, dark cherry, plum and spice. • You have two Cabernets. One has been aged in new French oak so the oak influence is prominent. The other has been aged in neutral French oak barrels, meaning they have been used a number of times before, so there is less oakiness to extract.
• Merlot usually feels a bit softer on the palate than Cabernet, but the two varietals are similar genetically and stylistically. Merlot is often more plummy and fruity and displays less of a tobacco essence. • Cabernet Franc is the father of Cabernet Sauvignon. It usually isn’t as powerful or structured as Cabernet Sauvignon and it’s not as fleshy and plummy as Merlot. Cabernet Franc is often spicy and sleek and sometimes has flavors more like blueberries than cherries. Most importantly, Cabernet Franc often adds a floral note, like violets or lilacs.
STEP 4 Let’s Blend — • Now that guests have an understanding of each varietal and what they contribute, it’s time to create their own blend! • Either pour directly into the graduated cylinder or use pipette for amounts less than ten percent or 10ml. • Demonstrate how to use the mouth pipette. - With the mouth at the end of the pipette, siphon wine into the pipette as if drinking from a straw, then quickly slide a finger over the top to keep the wine inside. Release wine into the blending glass. • Have them pour their measured quantities of wine into their empty glass, making sure to never add varietals together in the graduated cylinder. • Have guests record the amount of percentages of each varietal they’ve added on the recipe card on their tasting placements.
STEP 5 Let’s Judge — • Once the blending has concluded, the judging should begin. • Either appoint a panel of judges or serve as the judge yourself and evaluate each wine on the following: - Aroma - Taste - Mouthfeel • Once you have selected the winner, explain your decision to the group.
DID YOU KNOW? The ultimate goal of blending is to add layers of flavors to the wine.
STEP 6 Let’s Order — After your friends have had the time of their lives, you now have the opportunity to order more blending kit components to host another blending party or order more of your favorite blend. If you decide to order your own blend, you can submit artwork (a photo or drawing perhaps) to include on the front label. At Raymond Vineyards, we will put together those masterful blends because you are now a Raymond Blending Master. Contact us via email at BlendingRoom@RaymondVineyards.com or over the phone at 707.963.6928 to order your special wine.
www.RaymondVineyards.com/BlendingRoom
Raymond Vineyards The Blending Team 707.963.6928 blendingroom@raymondvineyards.com