Broad Run Cellars 2016 Fall Crush

[Boatboy24]

Over the holidays, I did another Chromo and the 4 Lanza wines are done.

And wouldn't you know? The Carmenere from Spring harvest was done as well. That is the only one of the 4 that completed MLF. No progress on the other 3.

 

[Boatboy24]

Racked and stabilized all 4 today. They are tasting fantastic.

 

[Boatboy24]

Dad and I did some blending trials today. My intention was to use most of these four wines to make a blend in the style of "The Prisoner". All 4 have been tasting fantastic on their own and I was really excited to taste my first crack at that blend. Come to find out, it was rather disappointing. After we tasted the blend, we tasted all 4 individually (we'd already done so about a month ago) and determined that no single wine was leading to the 'less than expected' experience. We then tested a few blends with two or three of the four. Holy cow, they were so much better. I guess these four, even though they were very good on their own, didn't play well when all 4 were combined. One slightly different blend was much better than the initial, but we are going to make four, primarily single varietal, wines, with the bulk of the leftovers going toward a blend that was different than what was originally planed.

The best laid plans...

 

[Johny99]

Wow, ambitious! I have trouble blending two!

 

[ibglowin]

You just need to blend up a case or two as an experiment. Shotgun marriages take some time. Honestly your making a mistake to not blend up some of these wines in a Prisoner fashion and see what they turn into down the road. I speak from experience here.

 

[Boatboy24]

You just need to blend up a case or two as an experiment. Shotgun marriages take some time. Honestly your making a mistake to not blend up some of these wines in a Prisoner fashion and see what they turn into down the road. I speak from experience here.

Agree. That was my big question to my dad: 'Do you want something that is good now, or something that will be great in 2-3 years?" The answer was "yes". So we're doing a few different things - one of which will certainly be the Prisoner style blend.

 

[mainshipfred]

I mentioned this is an earlier post. My wife and I went to a blending competition. We had 5 wines to work with. Made 5 different blends and really didn't think any of them were special. We had to enter one and did not win but the experience was fun. I did wonder if or how the blends would turn out after some aging. I think blending is an art. My first attempt at blending my wines will be sometime in August or September.

 

[Boatboy24]

Well, tomorrow is bottling day - at least for as much as we can get done. With a couple minor tweaks for the sake of filling containers if we need them, here are the final 2016's:

 

[mainshipfred]

Well, tomorrow is bottling day - at least for as much as we can get done. With a couple minor tweaks for the sake of filling containers if we need them, here are the final 2016's:

View attachment 46208

Sounds like a fun day, enjoy your time with your dad.

 

[ceeaton]

... and 40+% is likely to be blended.

Hmmm, where's the other 60%...I guess best laid plans change!

Well, tomorrow is bottling day - at least for as much as we can get done.

Don't let your Dad drink up the profits, I know he drinks like a fish!

Just kidding, I hope you have fun with your Dad. Like others have said I'd love to go back in time and spend a day like that with him (my Dad, not yours, though yours seemed like a lot of fun the time I met him).

 

[Boatboy24]

Hmmm, where's the other 60%...I guess best laid plans change!

Sorry. Originally said 40% would be the blend. Ended up with 44.8%. I beg your forgiveness.

 

[Boatboy24]

Well, we were surprised to find some sediment in the Syrah and a little bit in the Zin. No bottling today. We mixed up all the blends and have them resting in carboys. Bottling in a few weeks.

 

[mainshipfred]

Well, we were surprised to find some sediment in the Syrah and a little bit in the Zin. No bottling today. We mixed up all the blends and have them resting in carboys. Bottling in a few weeks.

Well heck Jim, that's a kick in the butt. I know you were looking forward to it.

 

[Boatboy24]

Well heck Jim, that's a kick in the butt. I know you were looking forward to it.

Eh, no big deal. My biggest disappointment is I may have to wait to start one of my white wine kits. It still took us a while to get everything blended up, and Dad was able to get some more of their stuff out of the basement. As he said, the wine will wait.