Mosti Mondiale Blending Kits

[hartm]

I started the second wine for my blending experiment coming this summer...


I already have a MM Merlot kit aging in the cellar, today I started a MM Cab. I pitched the yeast this morning and its already ramping up. This may be a quick fermentation (This happened to the Merlot as well).


My plan is to have the Merlot, the Cab, and a Syrah ready for blending this summer. A few of my relatives will be in town and we are going to make a few custom blends and bottle everything up.


Any tips from those that have blended kits before?

 

[JimCook]

Hartm,
Bench test the blends using measured amounts of each. When blending three wines together, I personally use the following breakdown into glasses for testing...


Pure A, B, and C in separate glasses.
33% A, 33% B, and 33% C in one glass (for a 1 ounce total pour, that's 10mL per blending wine)
Three more glasses with the following ratios: 50% A, 25% B, 25% C; 25% A, 50% B, 25% C; 25% A, 25% B, 50% C


Based on side-by-side taste tests, you'll likely find one or two of these glasses that you (and the other people helping you taste test) will prefer. You can perform further tests from that ratio to refine the blend if you want.


- Jim

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Jim,
How do you project what the blend will taste like after aging? Any guidelines?

 

[JimCook]

Jack,


Herein rests one of the interesting parts of blending - how will you really know what the blend will taste like? If all three wines in the blend happen to develop at exactly the same time (not likely), then the blend could remain more consistent. But even with commercial wines, different blends will exhibit different flavors over time. I am basing my blending trials completely on taste preferences and looking for dominant trends. If four people unamiously select a particular blend, I'm rolling with that one.


As I am still learning how some of my single-composition wines are developing with time, I'm personally very curious to see how the blends work. I will note this about blending - each and every time I have blended a wine and tasted it compared to the individual parts, the blend has not been a combined flavor experience but rather a longer flavor experience. Using a gross analogy, if wine A tasted like blueberries and wine B tasted like raspberries, the blend did not taste like blue raspberries, but rather the flavor of blueberries came forward and then was followed by raspberries, contributing to a longer length of flavors.


I will happily report how my blends develop over time.


I heartily encourage blending and I believe that very few commercial wines that are on the shelves are actually straight wines. As labelling laws allow for only 75% composition of a varietal to carry that name, there can be a lot of play on 'single-varietal' wines. I generally hold back some of the 'pure varietal' wines when making a blend and have bottled those to age them right along side the blends to better compare how I did later on.


I hope that helps answer your question.


- Jim