Wine blending

[Midwest Vintner]

i've been reading many threads and come to the conclusion that many like to "stick to the recipe." this isn't a bad thing, but things happen and many times wines come out lacking body, flavor or have acidity issues. i think it's very important for people to realize that wine is easily blended and that a blend can be much better than just a straight flavored wine. i have done many blends and not only is it fun, but i've come up with combos that came out extraordinary. so if you have a "sub-par" wine, don't dump it unless it's wayyy gross.

this is the best method i have found (wine should have already been stabilized and back-sweetened):

only tools needed is a wine thief and a small glass (and possibly a measuring cup if you like to be very accurate). juice glasses work great.

put first wine into cup in inverse proportion to how the wines taste (put more of the "watery" wine in compared to the stronger flavored or in equal portions if they are close in "body") and mark where the line sits on the side of the cup or mentally know at about what proportion was used (meaning 2/3 or 3/4 or what height in cup was added). add the other wine until you get the best mix. now figure the ratio of wine that was added to the beginning amount. make sure to take very small tastes to not disturb the proportion of the first wine.

mix another cup in that same proportion. let someone else try. if then mix in a carboy in the same proportion as was in the cup.

finally, stir well and put in a carboy to sit for a month, two or better bulk age it together.

don't forget to stabilize for bulk aging and/or bottling later!

you can even blend 3 wines together with this method. just have to have more cups and keep better track of the ratios. in the end, you will have a much better wine than both of the beginning wines and you'll be happy after all the "r&d" you did

here are a few examples of blends i have done. you can use other spirits with this method also.

-raspberry merlot wine mixed with homemade (you can use gadiva too) chocolate liqour
-apple and black currant
-apple and jalapeno
-orange and pinapple
-tangerine and pinapple
-pecan and homemade chocolate liqour
-pecan and brandy
-pecan and bourbon
-apricot and brandy

can't remember any more right now, but i know there are some i'm forgetting.

post up some of your favorite blends (can be pre mixed in primary)!

 

[Wade E]

I agree, either blend the sub par wine or either bottle it or bulk it so that you can use it to top up other wines with it.

 

[gregmg]

I agree that you can often blend two or more mediocre wines and end up with something far better, but I would caution those reading this against blending a truly flawed wine in an effort to improve it. It seems to me that blending a bad wine with good wine just produces more bad wine.

I wrote on this subject a while back.
http://www.goldminemtn.com/2009blog.html#blending

Greg G.

 

[djrockinsteve]

This season I've blended a few wines that are now bulk aging till Sept. 2010, aside from fine tuning a blend via taste, will a blend mature better blended before or after aging?

I blended mine 1 part and 4 parts to occupy a 5 gal. carboy.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

This season I've blended a few wines that are now bulk aging till Sept. 2010, aside from fine tuning a blend via taste, will a blend mature better blended before or after aging?

I blended mine 1 part and 4 parts to occupy a 5 gal. carboy.

i think they will do better before aging and allowing them to "meld," but i think both will work well.

i do agree with gregmg. "you can't polish a turd." don't make a good wine bad, but a higher acid wine could be blended with a lower acid wine level it out. it's better if you have many batches going or in carboys. this way you can find out which will work. i had posted about letting others try because then they might give you better insight as to whether the blend will be ok. sometimes you just don't want to throw a bad wine out

another thing i forgot to mention is that blending is not just for "bad" wine, but can work for good wines with other good wines to make a great wine. it just seems many here don't think about blending and i think it's not only fun, but you can find good mixes that you may not of come up with. best part is that you are only using a small amount, so it's not a waste of anything if it's not good.

 

[DesertDance]

Some of the best commercial wines are those that are blended to be fabulous! Cain Five, the many meritages, conundrums, and Red wines come to mind.

When you make it from scratch, and you blend it yourself, and it can't be purchased, the only people on this earth who can even taste it are you and your "friends."

How good is that? It's unique, different, tasty, and it can't be bought!!

Suzi

 

[deboard]

This thread has got me wondering: I have a blueberry wine that is definitely worth keeping, I got the tannin perfect for my taste, and the ABV is great, but it's just a bit thin.

Would it be ok to blend it with a few bottles of something I buy, like cabernet sauvignon or merlot? I don't want to make any bombs. I figure that I will remove 4-5 bottles worth and sweeten it with an f-pack (for those in the family that like sweet wine), and then siphon back in 4-5 bottles of different bought wine to make the dry version. If I do this is it ok to bottle right then or should I wait? I don't want any MLF taking back off!

I know that this definitely improves it, because at last racking I had about half a bottle that I tried, and I blended a couple of glasses with merlot and it was much better.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Would it be ok to blend it with a few bottles of something I buy, like cabernet sauvignon or merlot?

should be fine. you should be able to bottle it as long as the blueberry has been stabilized. just give it a good stir and bottle away. blueberry merlot sounds good to me!

 

[Wade E]

You could also try adding Gycerin to add the missing body!

 

[deboard]

Thanks! I stabilized it at the last racking.

 

[deboard]

Wade, I've read a few of the threads on here about glycerin, and I thought about it. What I would worry about is how much sweetness it would give it. I know glycerin will not sweeten as much as simple syrup, but how much would it add? I really would prefer this dry.