3 minute read
The Art of Blending
By: Tom Payette - Wimemaking Consultant
Blending is an excellent resource to make improvements in wines. To do it properly takes time, work and organization. Standing in the cellar and walking from wine vessel to wine vessel roughly pouring the quantities from glass to glass in estimation of what a blend will be like is not acceptable. Beyond the practical applications it is a great time to review overall winemaking quality and to plan the upcoming winemaking schedule for the year. Following these steps will result in better quality wines, more cellar organization and fluid production parameters for any winery whether making 2000 cases or 40,000 cases and beyond. These sessions give the winemaker long-term direction and will keep others in the winery better informed and involved with what is happening in the cellar.
In this article, I will go into detail with a stepby- step analysis how a blending session can be performed. This process gives a platform to taste and review all of the winery’s products and make blends in a systematic session outside of the cellar. One should be dedicated to this process. The first blending session may have some disjointed moments but don’t let that discourage the process. By the third session one should be on top of all aspects of this process and ready to build on it to make it an even better operation for their winery. Take the time to follow this process from sampling on through to the follow-up report. It works!
1) First, establish a set of goals for the blending session. Most of the time the goal will be to meet a certain style of wines that have the consistency of previous vintages or better. One can establish other goals as needed to fit the particular set of circumstances in the cellar. Goals such as blending a reserve style blend for a particular wine variety and then making subsequent blends is a perfect start. Always taste past vintages of these same wines from the wine library. This will give great information as to how wines are holding up in the bottle and help remember the earlier wines and how they were crafted. Collect winemaking data of these past vintages for review should that be necessary. If one marvels over a competitor’s wine, then purchase some of that wine and put it into the initial blind tasting. It may help move your wine style in the direction desired. Try to answer this question before, during and after the blending session: “Do we know where we are with our wines and where we are trying to go”? Asking yourself and the others this question will help the winery move the wines forward.
2) The Next step in a successful blending session is collecting the samples early. Go into the cellar, at least one week prior to the scheduled blending day, and pull all the samples needed in sufficient quantities. Usually at least one 750 ml sample of each large lot will be sufficient for a two person blending session. Perhaps a 375 ml sample of the smaller lots will suffice. When in doubt – collect multiple 750 milliliter samples of one lot. (If using this article, as a client of mine, lets please touch base to discuss sample sizes and participants in the blending session) Make sure these samples represent the lot of wine. If twenty barrels are in the lot – try and pull the sample from at least 10 representative barrels to make sure it is uniform. If a certain wine is in two distinct sets of wine storage conditions, take samples of each and indicate the differences. If the sample does not represent the wine it is supposed to, a successful blending session can not be performed. If older lots of a certain wine remain in the cellar, sample them as well. It may help to round out the newer vintage blend. Take samples of anything that does not already have a direction in your winemaking plan and that may even remotely have a chance of adding to the blend. All the way down to carboys if you have them. If looking to purchase wines in bulk, have those samples sent to you well ahead of time with their respective chemistries.
3) Pull the wine samples in the same style glass bottle to eliminate the influence of preference, or lack thereof. The wines will be tasted blind and one would not want to influence the tasters by having the glass bottle, color or style tip the taster’s hand. (It happens!) Using a t-top closure is the best for these samples to save time. This will make it easier to remove the cork at the blending table and prevent fumbling clumsily through the opening of each bottle while pulling a cork.
4) Mark each bottle with the lot code, vintage year, variety, quantity and any other data deemed important – for example “new French oak” or “malo-lactic”. Place the bottles into brown bags or wine bottle bags all of the same style. This action, will again, prevent any bias resulting from remembering what wine went into which bag. Randomly move the bottles around to facilitate the blind tasting process for yourself (optional). After shuffling the wines around sufficiently, label them in a number or letter sequence and place, in flights, into boxes. This process should be completed one week prior to the actual blending session and the wines