Blending Technique Poll

[joeycannoli]

Curious how everyone on the board approaches the technique of blending. I have heard many different opinions and approaches on the subject. A lot of relatives from Italy have an old-school mentality and blend everything together before fermentation. Other I have spoken to do the blending after fermentation, selecting different yeasts for each specific varietal to get the most out of the fermentation. I also know many that will ferment and age separately and then blend the wines before bottling.

How does everyone on here do it? Pros and cons that you have experienced? Eager to hear the responses!

 

[mainshipfred]

It all depends on the age of what I have but I normally wait to around 9 months before blending. I'm not very good at it yet, it's a palate thing so maybe I never will. I start with the wine I would like to be dominate. Use it as a base and blend the other wines at a 20% ratio normally 3 blends. Take the one I like the most and play with different ratios of that. But after that I have no clue how to proceed. I just give up and do an eenie meenie.

 

[meadmaker1]

All the options in your poll look good to me.
Cant say what i might do with a finished wine. Until its finished. But if i think it will improve my product id do it before.
If i were older and had been taught by family with years of proven technique I would trust that knowledge, and probably do things just as i do now cuz i usually feel a need to prove what doesn't work.

 

[pgentile]

I've mainly done field blends the past few years and has worked quite well, but this year I have about 9 varietals that are in various stages of aging. Planning to do more structured blending trials with these.

 

[Ajmassa]

Working on all those options said and finding out which route I like best.

Thinking different wines call for different things too.
I’ve done field blends and fermented all together. Nice and easy. Just did another one.
The different yeasts and blending during aging. Attempting that now as well.
Blending finished wines—- the end game. Total control over the process. But need enough wine to do it. When I’m able it will be mutple vintages. And years of commitment. But looking forward to trying. Planning on saving a good portion of each batch to stay in bulk waiting for he blending party.

 

[CK55]

I've mainly done field blends the past few years and has worked quite well, but this year I have about 9 varietals that are in various stages of aging. Planning to do more structured blending trials with these.

I like field blending, but when i work with grapes like Cabernet Franc,Merlot and Malbec or something like that where i want to blend, i tend to use established blending percentages used by major producers in bordeaux.

Like for my cab franc i tend to just add them and ferment together as one batch 70% Cab Franc, 20% Merlot 5% Malbec 5% Carmenere.

 

[Boatboy24]

Field blends are simple and there are good reasons to go that route - I've done it myself. But given the time, space and patience; I think blending and aging separately is the best bet. This year's 50/50 blend might be great; but based on conditions, 60/40 might do better next year. Blending earlier can greatly simplify things, but waiting allows you to fine tune to go from good to better, or great. It really boils down to style, and how much you want to put into your wine. Also with how much wine you want to make. If you want to make only 6 gallons, but blend 3 different varietals, I'd recommend a field blend pre-fermentation. If you want to make 3 varietals, then figure out which portions of the 3 make the best wine, make 6 gallons of each, then blend after aging. And you have the leftovers to make other blends or single varietals.

 

[winemaker81]

I've done all three.

Blend before fermentation, you're going to get what you get. This is an informed guess based upon the fruit.

Blending after fermentation. This allows discrimination as the blending is being done by taste. But the wine is all green so the final result could vary a lot.

Blending after aging. This allows the most discrimination and provides for the best idea of what the final wine will be after additional aging.

If the fruit & technique are good, the result will be good by all methods. However, I prefer #3, as it gives me the best chance of getting exactly what I expect. But if I have 40# of four different grapes, I'm gonna toss 'em together and see what happens.

 

[Scooter68]

I never blend - I make "Country Fruit wines not grape based wines"

I Started making wine because it's virtually impossible to find quality true fruit wine except for Plum. Virtually every other fruit wine is a blend of Apple, White Grape and the Fruit on the label.