# Italian Blends



## joeycannoli (Jul 29, 2021)

Anyone care to share their Italian blends? Looking to get some ideas for a new batch this fall. Doesn’t necessarily have to be all Italian grapes. Curious to what else everyone is making out there and the ratio of their blends.

I am going to try a biferno this fall, which is a blend of Aglianico and Montepulciano


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## mainshipfred (Jul 30, 2021)

I just bottled a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 20% Nebbiolo and 20% Alicante. It's a 2019 and everyone seems to like it. I simply called it Italian Blend.


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## joeycannoli (Jul 30, 2021)

That sounds like a great blend! Was thinking of doing something with Barbera this year as well


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## tullamore (Jul 31, 2021)

barbera one of my favourites -i blend with 15 percent petit sirrah -still drinking my 2015
sangiovese and sagrantino blend - (85% sangio)
100% dolcetto - my go to pizza wine
barbera dolcetto nebbiolo(60,30, 10 %)o
100% nebbiolo
old school - go with Alicante and muscat(60,40 %)
100% nero d'avola - very underrated
sangio,merlot cab sav and syrah(60,20,15, 5 %)


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## joeycannoli (Jul 31, 2021)

Those all sound good. Might have to try the Barbera one this year


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## dizzy (Jul 31, 2021)

Getting married this fall and don't have a lot of time for wine, but I had so much fun (and, success?) making wine for our wedding want to try a little something. I've the skins from 40lb of WA cab still I want to put with some juice...been thinking about my grandma a lot this year, wanted to honor her with an Italian. Leaning towards Sangiovese but will keep it open to anything I hear about what's good this year...will pick up from Procacci this time.


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## Khristyjeff (Aug 1, 2021)

@winemaker81 here are some more blend ideas for your thread.


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## joeycannoli (Aug 5, 2021)

Who else has some recipes they want to share? Any super Tuscans or piedmonte blends?


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## Cynewulf (Aug 6, 2021)

mainshipfred said:


> I just bottled a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 20% Nebbiolo and 20% Alicante. It's a 2019 and everyone seems to like it. I simply called it Italian Blend.


We just enjoyed a bottle for our anniversary this week. My wife isn’t a big wine drinker but she loved your Italian Blend, Fred.


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## Tigre Cieca di Bocco (Aug 6, 2021)

I plan on trying to recreate a rosato from Sicily that is a field blend of Malvasia, Inzolia, Moscato, and Nerello Mescalese. Let the skins sit for 10 days then remove. Since I cannot get all those varietals I plan on modifying the blend a little and doing a Malvasia, Chardonnay, Moscato, and Nero d'Avola.


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## buzi (Aug 7, 2021)

I did a super Tuscan in 2015. It was fantastic. 40% Sangio, 40% Cab Sauv, and 20% Merlot. Barbera on its own or in a blend is a great one too! Rhiannan is a good blend of mostly Barbera with a little Petite Sirah. The Ratio can change yearly and they might add a few other grapes in depending on the year but still a good value wine blend.


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## justsgm (Oct 4, 2021)

joeycannoli said:


> Anyone care to share their Italian blends? Looking to get some ideas for a new batch this fall. Doesn’t necessarily have to be all Italian grapes. Curious to what else everyone is making out there and the ratio of their blends.
> 
> I am going to try a biferno this fall, which is a blend of Aglianico and Montepulciano



This is a rough year because all the grapes are not available. Last year I did a barrel of 100% Nero D'Avola, another barrel of a Super Tuscan. They came out great. This year I can't get any Nero. 

I'm doing a barrel of 90% Nebbiolo and 10% Petite Syrah for color
Another of Super Tuscan, 75% Sangiovese, 10% Merlot, 10% Cab, 5% Alicante
A barrel of an Old School Italian with Zin, Mixed Black and Carignan


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## gabe (Oct 5, 2021)

This year we are doing 7 buckets.
4 AMARONE
3 BRUNELLO


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## Khristyjeff (Oct 5, 2021)

gabe said:


> This year we are doing 7 buckets.
> 4 AMARONE
> 3 BRUNELLO


Are you planning any tweaks to your Amarone?


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## Dom1950 (Oct 5, 2021)

Red wine is 3 to 1 zinfendal to Alicante. My grandfathers recipe


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## gabe (Oct 5, 2021)

Khristyjeff said:


> Are you planning any tweaks to your Amarone?


We use 2 dift. Yeast strains on all our wines. For us it took our wine to the next level. To do this you need to ferment your wine with each yeast separate and than blend them before you bottle. 

Don’t spill the wine,
GABE


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## Khristyjeff (Oct 5, 2021)

gabe said:


> We use 2 dift. Yeast strains on all our wines. For us it took our wine to the next level. To do this you need to ferment your wine with each yeast separate and than blend them before you bottle.
> 
> Don’t spill the wine,
> GABE


Thanks for responding. Which yeast strains do you recommend for an Amazon bucket?


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## winemaker81 (Oct 6, 2021)

My Italian blend is: Sangiovese 50%, Montipulciano 12.5%, Nebbiolo 12.5%, Nero D' Avoia 12.5%, Sagrantino 12.5%

That's 4 lugs Sangiovese, 1 lug each of the other four.


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## gabe (Oct 6, 2021)

Kristyjeff
I’ve been using BM4X4 & 71B. Both are low foaming and compatible if you do MLF. Bear in mind if your doing only 1 six gallon bucket of Amarone you must split it into 2 three gallon buckets so you can pitch each yeast separately. Do not pitch both into the same fermentation, you’ll defeat your purpose. Prior to bottling is when you blend them together.

Don’t spill the wine,
Gabe


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## gabe (Oct 6, 2021)

Next year we will experiment by using RP15 which is recommended for Amarone along with BM4x4. 
good luck.
don’t spill the wine,
gabe


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## Khristyjeff (Oct 6, 2021)

@gabe I’ve got both of those yeast strains so I’ll give the split batch a go. Sounds interesting. Thank you.


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## gabe (Oct 6, 2021)

Enjoy, let me know if did.
gabe


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## mainshipfred (Oct 6, 2021)

Khristyjeff said:


> @gabe I’ve got both of those yeast strains so I’ll give the split batch a go. Sounds interesting. Thank you.



You will not be disappointed using multiple yeasts.


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