Wine Blending

[DCJRW]

What is your favorite blend? It does not matter if it was red or white. My first and still favorite white blend was a 87% Tokay and a 13% Pinot grigio. Although my favorite red blend was 45% Primitivo 50% syrah and 5% petite.

 

[Rocky]

DCJRW, earlier this year I attended a short seminar conducted by Jan and Tom Cobett at the Pittsburgh Amateur Winemaking Competition sponsored by the AWS. The title of the seminar was "Blending in the Zinfandel Patch" and it involved blending wines to our particular taste using Zinfandel as a base and adding varying amounts of Carignane, Petite Sirah and Grenache. Each of the three "background" wines added something to the Zinfandel (Carignane added acidity, tannins and color; Petite Sirah added color, texture/mouth and bouquet; Grenache added body and fruitiness) and we tried several combinations. The combination that I made that I personally liked best was 60% Zinfandel, 15% Carignane, 10% Petite Sirah and 15% Grenache.

Now in order to blend 4 wines at home would require a fairly large operation. An approximation of what one would get from various blends could be attained by buying bottles of commercial wine and trying the combinations first. The issue with this approach is that, depending on the wine one buys, a Zinfandel, for example may only be 75% Zinfandel and 25% unknown varieties unless they are listed on the label. Some wines list accurate percentages of the varieties included, some do not.

In any case, it was an informative seminar and went somewhat into why various wines are blended with others.

 

[winemaker_3352]

What is your favorite blend? It does not matter if it was red or white. My first and still favorite white blend was a 87% Tokay and a 13% Pinot grigio. Although my favorite red blend was 45% Primitivo 50% syrah and 5% petite.

Where did you get the Tokay grapes from??

 

[DCJRW]

We have 30 acres of them in the central valley of CA. The picture I used is a clip of the vineyard. They are the real tokay too. It has already won a silver medal and a gold medal in some pretty good size competitions too.

 

[JohnT]

I did some reading that said that tokay is actually pinot gregio. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[Rocky]

I did some reading that said that tokay is actually pinot gregio. Has anyone else heard this?

John, I am sure they are two different varieties. Tokay are normally a light reddish purple color, larger than Pinot Grigio and with a thicker skin. I also believe they are primarily a table grape but they are used for wine, particularly in Hungary.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Tokay is a different grape - it's actually a Hungarian wine grape Furmint.

My wife's grandfather made wine from tokay grapes a long long long time ago - and he swears it was the best wine he ever made...

If i could ever get my hands on some again - i would love to and make it with him...