Blending an over oaked Pinot

[Main man]

I have a 3 gallon carboy with some wine that came from some really good Pinot grapes. I left it in the care of my daughter and she over oaked it, then it got moved in the latest Sonoma fire and sat on the chips for more than a month (or two). The wine itself tastes great but the oak is super strong. I thought I would blend it with a 6 gallon Pinot kit which is in process. I'm not planning on adding any Oak to the kit with the hope that things balance out. I'm wondering if anyone can provide some thoughts on what I'm doing. I'm wondering if I don't oak the kit if I'm setting myself up to have some wine leftover after blending that doesn't taste very good. Also, I'm curious if anyone has some guidance on the blending process as in what proportion to start with of each and if it makes a difference if I'm blending a 6 month old grape based wine with a brand new 1 month old kit wine. I would appreciate all the input you are willing to give me on blending. I don't want to waste either batch but I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Johnd]

I have a 3 gallon carboy with some wine that came from some really good Pinot grapes. I left it in the care of my daughter and she over oaked it, then it got moved in the latest Sonoma fire and sat on the chips for more than a month (or two). The wine itself tastes great but the oak is super strong. I thought I would blend it with a 6 gallon Pinot kit which is in process. I'm not planning on adding any Oak to the kit with the hope that things balance out. I'm wondering if anyone can provide some thoughts on what I'm doing. I'm wondering if I don't oak the kit if I'm setting myself up to have some wine leftover after blending that doesn't taste very good. Also, I'm curious if anyone has some guidance on the blending process as in what proportion to start with of each and if it makes a difference if I'm blending a 6 month old grape based wine with a brand new 1 month old kit wine. I would appreciate all the input you are willing to give me on blending. I don't want to waste either batch but I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

Lots of questions here, I’ll do my best to cover them all.
Oak falls back after a little aging, so don’t give up on the original batch coming back into your favor.
If the grapes are really good, be aware that blending in a lower quality kit may bring the oak into check, but could degrade the quality of the overall wine.
Make your PN kit and let it get some age on it, develop its personality, before you decide if it’s blend-worthy.
When the kit is ready (presumably in the fall) taste your original to see if you still think it needs to be blended, and taste the kit to make sure it’s good enough to use for blending.
If you’re a “go” on those items, set up some bench trials with a measured amount of the original, and add a measured amount of the kit, and taste. Continue this with incrementally larger amounts of kit wine until you’re happy with the blend. For instance, put 10ml original in a glass, add 3ml kit, taste, then do one with 4ml, and so on. I doubt you’ll need to use 6 gallons unloaded PN to fix 3 gallons of overloaded PN, but I don’t know how strong it tastes.
Once you’ve decided on your blend ratio, expand it mathematically to suit the volume of the overloaded wine and make your blend. Take the leftover kit wine, put it into an appropriate sized vessel and oak it if you desire.
Good luck!

 

[NorCal]

I like @Johnd ‘s recommendation to do a bench sample first. Sometimes you can throw good wine after bad and wind up making 3X as much wine you really don’t like.

 

[Ignoble Grape]

Same problem, only in reverse. Nebbiolo kit. Followed the directions, but it came with a LOT of chips. Added them all and crossed my fingers. It's pretty strong. How noticeably does oak fade over time? The kit is 6 months old. Wondering how long to hold onto it before giving up.

 

[CDrew]

Oak fades quite a bit over time. I was very concerned that my 2018 Primitivo was over-oaked. Almost campfire like at bottling with the M+ stavin cubes. I was unhappy since I have about 12 cases. But since bottling last fall, the oak has integrated itself quite well, and the last bottle I had last week is actually good, heading to very good. Wines with more tannin, seem to be able to take more oak without tasting like a board. Pinot Noir is pretty light for a lot of oak, so I'll wish you well. But I would not mix really good grapes with a kit, no matter how oaky. Bottle it and take your lumps. Remember that time improves most aspects of wine making. I'm assuming your Pinot is 2019? If so, you won't be drinking it until 2022 anyway.

If in the future, you use Stavin cubes for oaking, use the calculator on their website and aim for 25-35% new oak. Not 100% like I did the first time.

So my recommendation is not to throw good wine after bad. Bottle what you have when it's ready, and let it sit in the bottle for 1 year. If it's still over oaked at 1 year after bottling, then just toss it out as a lesson learned. My guess is, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Ignoble Grape]

Oak fades quite a bit over time. I was very concerned that my 2018 Primitivo was over-oaked. Almost campfire like at bottling with the M+ stavin cubes. I was unhappy since I have about 12 cases. But since bottling last fall, the oak has integrated itself quite well, and the last bottle I had last week is actually good, heading to very good. Wines with more tannin, seem to be able to take more oak without tasting like a board. Pinot Noir is pretty light for a lot of oak, so I'll wish you well. But I would not mix really good grapes with a kit, no matter how oaky. Bottle it and take your lumps. Remember that time improves most aspects of wine making. I'm assuming your Pinot is 2019? If so, you won't be drinking it until 2022 anyway.

If in the future, you use Stavin cubes for oaking, use the calculator on their website and aim for 25-35% new oak. Not 100% like I did the first time.

So my recommendation is not to throw good wine after bad. Bottle what you have when it's ready, and let it sit in the bottle for 1 year. If it's still over oaked at 1 year after bottling, then just toss it out as a lesson learned. My guess is, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you! I'm inspired to hold out hope. It's in a single carboy, so not taking up much space. Will re-visit this post in a year.