Blenders

[Julie]

Over the weekend, I blended 3 gallon of elderberry with 6 gallon of Fredonia. I think this is going to be a keeper!

 

[Pargettk]

My 25% elderberry/75% chambourcin blend is like your Julie - and it's delicious and still too young. I credit the success to the elderberry cutting the high acidity while adding fruitiness and body. Good stuff.

 

[Julie]

So when we are bottling two different wines I like to blend a glassful to see how it taste. We bottled an Edelweiss and a Noble today. Well this was pretty tasty, it was a 50/50 blend. I'm thinking we will be doing a batch of this come fall.

 

[Julie]

My 25% elderberry/75% chambourcin blend is like your Julie - and it's delicious and still too young. I credit the success to the elderberry cutting the high acidity while adding fruitiness and body. Good stuff.

Have you tasted this lately?

 

[yanks4carolyn]

Any suggestions on a Cherry Lime? Would I use frozen sweetened limeade?

 

[wineview]

Do any of you blend after fermentation is complete? In other words blending at bottling time.

 

[dralarms]

Do any of you blend after fermentation is complete? In other words blending at bottling time.

I do quite often.

 

[Julie]

All my blends our done after fermentation.

 

[mainshipfred]

Not that my taste is the best but I think I prefer after the wines have aged. This way you know more about what qualities the individual wines have and how one would benefit the other(s).

 

[buzi]

I blend right before bottling. That way I have the best idea of what I will get. There is still some changing in the bottle but my taster is not refined enough to allow me to blend pre-fermentation. And those folks that do field blends!?! Gutsy!

 

[wood1954]

I just finished my last bottle of merlot/Marquette 50/50 blend. 2017 vintage. I blended them because I over sulfited the Marquette. It turned out very nice, wish I had saved more, aging really does work magic sometimes. I would blend them again to help tame the acid in the Marquette.

 

[Bmd2k1]

Anyone blend at pour/decant time? (ie. pour different vinos into decanter, swirl, let sit & serve)

 

[wineview]

Sure do

 

[sour_grapes]

Yup. I am pretty liberal/non-fussy with mixing wines in the glass or decanter.

 

[winemaker81]

Anyone blend at pour/decant time? (ie. pour different vinos into decanter, swirl, let sit & serve)

It's one of the best times to bench test, especially if no one except you realizes they're bench testing. Make a couple of blends and ask people which is their favorite. If it's a "tasting", it feels like a test, but "whattayalike?" is not.

 

[wineview]

I’m blending a Barbera that’s a bit too oaky with a non oaked wine for tonight.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Anyone blend at pour/decant time? (ie. pour different vinos into decanter, swirl, let sit & serve)

When I’m in the mood for a rose but don’t have a bottle, I’ll add a tsp of maraschino cherry juice to a glass of Riesling. Viola, rose.

 

[Bmd2k1]

At pour blend just enjoyed...

Chilean Malbec 50%
FWK Zin 50%

Tasty!

 

[Denden5136]

I blend reds several months before bottling and let them settle and, if necessary, make final adjustments to SO2, acid, etc. since the final product will not necessarily be the sum of the 2 you start with. I always do blend testing with my wife and decide on the ratios, then plan and blend. Last year I did a Meritage that way with Cab Sauvignon and Cab Franc. I also blended a little Mourvedre in with my Syrah last year. The Syrah had a high pH, and the Mourvedre was a bit high on the TA, so the blend was very good to add stability.

However, for fruit wines, I throw everything in from the beginning, so it is more like "fermenting together" rather than blending. I am doing a quince-pomegranate that way now, and did a pear-pomegranate last year. Perhaps that doesn't count for blending.