Blending excel wine to make good wine better?

[NorCal]

I'm doing some blending trials and making the decision to consume some of the best wine I've ever made to make other good wine better. Say consuming a wine that is a 9/10 to bring a wine that is a 7 to an 8.

My specific case is a 25 gallons of Mourvèdre my 9/10 and a 60 gallon barrel of Zin. Blind taste tests confirmed that the more Mourvèdre that was in the Zin, the more it was preferred. So, now it is striking a balance of bottling some the good stuff and bringing the quality of the Zin up.

I suppose this is a common decision that has to be made, but I've never had to do it before.

 

[Rocky]

NorCal, This is something I would advise against doing, i.e. taking an excellent wine and blending it with a not so great wine. It is like the story of the Jewish grandmother who had two chickens, one of which was sick and one healthy. She killed the healthy one to make soup for the sick one.

Is part of you decision being driven by the fact that you have 60 gallons of Zinfandel and only about half that much of the Mourvedre? Why not make batch of something else to blend with the Zinfandel? I have a suggestion and I know you are a "make from grapes" guy but this is a special circumstance. Make about 20 gallons of Muscat, ferment it to dry and blend it 3:1 with the Zinfandel. This is a blend that we have made in our family for years and it is a real favorite. If you want to get an idea of what it would taste like, get a bottle of Muscat and try blending a sample size.

 

[NorCal]

Thanks for the reply Rocky and I can see your point. Certainly if the blend elevated both wines, it would be a no brainer.
Another variable is that I have a number of family members that are participating in the Zin barrel. I suppose I could give them each a few bottles of 100% Ved with their 100% Zin, instead of blending and getting all the same.

 

[NorCal]

Just to close this one out, what I ended up doing was a compromise; a third of the barrel I made 100% Zin, the other two thirds of the barrel I made the blend. This left plenty of Mourvedere left to bottle this as a separate varietal as well.

 

[wineforfun]

I'm doing some blending trials and making the decision to consume some of the best wine I've ever made to make other good wine better. Say consuming a wine that is a 9/10 to bring a wine that is a 7 to an 8.

My specific case is a 25 gallons of Mourvèdre my 9/10 and a 60 gallon barrel of Zin. Blind taste tests confirmed that the more Mourvèdre that was in the Zin, the more it was preferred. So, now it is striking a balance of bottling some the good stuff and bringing the quality of the Zin up.

I suppose this is a common decision that has to be made, but I've never had to do it before.

Power tools and alcohol, now that is a nice blend.

 

[cgallamo]

I'd want some synergies from the blend if I was going to take out a top tier wine. Those are hard to come by