red blend ideas

[NCWC]

When I was in Tuscany, I went to several wineries. They were blending in more like 5% Merlot and Cab each. I did that with my Sang. It gave a better mouth feel and smoothed out the edges.

 

[Jusatele]

What kits do you plan on using?

My local store sells the Wine Expert kits, there base line kit seems to be what I will use, that way I can have enough for the blend and possibly enough for a few bottles of each

 

[Jusatele]

When I was in Tuscany, I went to several wineries. They were blending in more like 5% Merlot and Cab each. I did that with my Sang. It gave a better mouth feel and smoothed out the edges.

I can break it up and try both
thanks for the idea

 

[meridaen]

When I was in Tuscany, I went to several wineries. They were blending in more like 5% Merlot and Cab each. I did that with my Sang. It gave a better mouth feel and smoothed out the edges.

That’s really interesting, I have about 30 sang vines, 2 merlot, 2 cab franc, and 2 mourvedre. I was wondering what the hell I was going to make out of it all, straight Sang, all in, hadn’t really come across too many posts with similar blends. So in your experience the others will help smooth it out, and hopefully help the colour?

 

[NCWC]

All the wines I blended where no less than two years in a barrel. There is such a difference from only one year to two or even three years.

 

[winemaker81]

The current update includes some French-American hybrids.

Important Note: Some of the percentages may seem overly precise, which may be a result of simple math. One of my blends was 2/3 Merlot, 1/3 Bordeaux Blend (equal poundage of 4 different grapes). Calculating percentages I came up with 67% Merlot and 8.25% of each of the other 4 grapes. In this case, it's my best guess as to the percentages; I didn't measure out 8.25% of any wine.

Treat the following blends as starting points and use your own taste testing to fine tune the final blend.


Red Grape

Alicante Bouschet

Alicante Bouschet 80%, Zinfandel 10%, Barbera 10% (Tullamore)
Alicante Bouschet 60%, Muscat 40% (tullamore)
Alicante Bouschet 54%, Grenache 50% (distributor)
Alicante Bouschet 50%, Barbera 25%, Petite Sirah 25% (distributor)

Barbera

Barbera 90%, Petite Sirah 10% (tullamore)
Barbera 85%, Petite Sirah 15% (tullamore)
Barbera 81%, Sangiovese 13%, Petite Sirah 6% (Mac60)
Barbera 80%, Sangiovese 15%, Aglianico 5% (CDrew)
Barbera 80%, Sangiovese 15%, Petite Sirah 5% (tullamore)
Barbera 75%, Sangiovese 20%, Petit Verdot 5% (Mac60)
Barbera 60%, Dolcetto 30%, Nebbiolo 10% (tullamore)
Barbera 54%, Grenache 46% (Joe B)
Barbera 40%, Zinfandel 40%, Alicante Bouschet 20% (Clammypollack)

Cabernet Franc

Cabernet Franc 85%, Merlot 5%, Carménère 5%, Alicante Bouschet 5% (Nebbiolo020)
Cabernet Franc 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 30%, Merlot 20% (McGregor Winery – Rob Roy)

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon 85%, Merlot 10%, Cabernet Franc 4%, Petit Verdot 1% (Mark Ryan Winery - Dead Horse)
Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Cabernet Franc 10%, Merlot 10% (winemaker81)
Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Merlot 16%, Petit Verdot 4% (Mac60)
Cabernet Sauvignon 80%, Petit Verdot 12%, Tannat 8% (Mainshipfred)
Cabernet Sauvignon 79%, Cabernet Franc 11%, Merlot 10% (Justin Vineyards – Isosceles)
Cabernet Sauvignon 79%, Merlot 9%, Cabernet Sauvignon 8%, Malbec 2%, Petite Verdot 2% (San Acacia Cellars – Caballo Muerto)
Cabernet Sauvignon 78%, Merlot 8%, Cabernet Franc 8%, Petit Verdot 4%, Malbec 2% (Guasto-IS)
Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Merlot 25% (distributor)
Cabernet Sauvignon 72%, Merlot 28% (Kitchen)
Cabernet Sauvignon 70%, Merlot 20%, Cabernet Franc 10% (DistanceRunner)
Cabernet Sauvignon 60%, Shiraz 40% (Red Head - Red Sedan)
Cabernet Sauvignon 59%, Merlot 39%, Petit Verdot 2% (Snafflebit)
Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Petite Sirah 43% (kitchen)
Cabernet Sauvignon 51%, Merlot 26%, Syrah 13%, Sangiovese 10% (NCWC)
Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 30%, Syrah 20% (Meadini)
Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Primitivo 50% (Tenuta - Albrizzi)
Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Cabernet Franc 25%, Merlot 25%, Sangiovese 25% (Clammypollack)

Carignan

Carignan 50%, Syrah 25%, Mourvèdre 25% (Charles Cros)
Carignan 24%, Zinfandel 25%, Alicante Bouschet 24%, Petite Sirah 25% (distributor)

Carménère

Carménère 50%, Malbec 50% (Chuck E)

Chambourcin

Chambourcin 90%, Merlot 10% (winemaker81)

Grenache

Grenache 76%, Mourvèdre 8%, Petite Sirah 8%, Syrah 8% (winemaker81)
Grenache 70%, Syrah 20%, Carignan 10% (Cabalié)
Grenache 67%, Shiraz 28%, Mourvèdre 5% (Colloca)
Grenache 62.5%, Syrah 37.5%, Mourvèdre 12.5% (winemaker81)
Grenache 50%, Syrah 35%, Carignan 10%, Mourvèdre 5% (Domaine de la Presidente - Cotes du Rhone)
Grenache 50%, Syrah 25%, Merlot 25% (Meadini)
Grenache 40%, Sangiovese 40%, Zinfandel 20% (distributor)
Grenache 25%, Zinfandel 250%, Alicante Bouschet 25%, Muscat 25% (distributor)

Malbec

Malbec 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40% (BMarNJ)

Marechal Foch

Marechal Foch 75%, Leon Millot 25% (VinesnBines)

Merlot

Merlot 95%, Cabernet Franc 5% (Tentation de Dalem – Fronsac)
Merlot 78.90%, Barbera 21.2% (StimVino)
Merlot 70%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Grenache 5% (distributor)
Merlot 67%, Cabernet Sauvignon 8.25%, Cabernet Franc 8.25%, Petit Verdot 8.25%, Malbec 8.25% (winemaker81)
Merlot 65%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Cabernet Franc 10% (Chateau Bellevue – Bordeaux)
Merlot 40%, Cabernet Sauvignon 30%, Petit Verdot 20%, Malbec 10%, Cabernet Franc 10% (Jbu50)
Merlot 40%, Zinfandel 40%, Cabernet Sauvignon 5%, Cabernet Franc 5%, Petit Verdot 5%, Malbec 5% (winemaker81)

Montepulciano

Montepulciano 85%, Petit Verdot 15% (StimVino)
Montepulciano 70.5%, Barbera 21.2%, Muscat 8.3% (StimVino)
Montepulciano 60%, Cesanese 40% (Antionio Federici - Roma Rosso)

Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo 90%, Petite Sirah 10% (justsgm)
Nebbiolo 70.5%, Barbera 21.2%, Muscat 8.3% (StimVino)

Petite Sirah

Petite Sirah 74%, Regent 26% (Hazelmere)

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir 75%, Syrah 25% (StimVino)

Primitivo

Primitivo 60%, Syrah 40% (CDrew)
Primitivo 40%, Sangiovese 25%, Barbera 24%, Dolcetto 8%, Syrah 3% (Brutocao - Quadriga)

Ruby Cabernet

Ruby Cabernet 60%, Carignan 20%, Zinfandel 20% (distributor)

Sangiovese

Sangiovese 85%, Sagrantino 15% (tullamore)
Sangiovese 80%, Merlot 10%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10% (Jusatale)
Sangiovese 75%, Merlot 10%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10%, Alicante Bouschet 5% (justsgm)
Sangiovese 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Merlot 15% (Meadini)
Sangiovese 60%, Merlot 20%, Cabernet Sauvignon 15%, Syrah 5% (tullamore)
Sangiovese 60%, Nebbiolo 20%, Alicante Bouschet 20% (mainshipfred)
Sangiovese 50%, Montepulciano 12.5%, Nebbiolo 12.5%, Nero D'avoia 12.5%, Sagrantino 12.5% (winemaker81)
Sangiovese 45%, Cabernet Sauvignon 35%, Merlot 15%, Petite Sirah 5% (Mac60)
Sangiovese 44%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40%, Merlot 10%, Petite Sirah 6% (Mac60)
Sangiovese 42%, Cabernet Sauvignon 21%, Merlot 26%, Syrah 5.5%, Petite Sirah 5.5% (NCWC)
Sangiovese 40%, Cabernet Sauvignon 40%, Merlot 20% (buzi)

Shiraz

Shiraz 80%, Zinfandel 20% (Amandla)
Shiraz 50%, Merlot 50% (CalabrianBlood)
Shiraz 47%, Cabernet Sauvignon 32%, Malbec 21% (Andean Vineyards - Waxed Bat)

Syrah

Syrah 50%, Petite Sirah 50% (distributor)
Syrah 33.3%, Petite Sirah 33.3%, Merlot 33.3% (winemaker81)

Tempranillo

Tempranillo 95%, Graciano 5% (Latitud 42 – Rioja Reserva)
Tempranillo 94%, Mourvèdre 2%, Petite Sirah 2%, Syrah 2% (winemaker81)
Tempranillo 34%, Syrah 33%, Zinfandel 33% (distributor)

Touriga Nacional

Touriga Nacional 35%, Tinta Roriz 25%, Syrah 25%, Alicante Bouschet 15% (Stone & Bones)

Zinfandel

Zinfandel 75%, Alicante Bouschet 25% (Dom1950)
Zinfandel 75%, Petite Sirah 25% (Chuck E)
Zinfandel 75%, Syrah 13%, Petite Sirah 7%, Merlot 5% (Mac60)
Zinfandel 70%, Barbera 30% (BMarNJ)
Zinfandel 50%, Barbera 50% (distributor)
Zinfandel 50%, Merlot 20%, Malbec 20%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10% (Kraffty)
Zinfandel 35%, Carignan 35%, Grenache 15%, Alicante Bouschet 15% (distributor)

White Grape

Chardonnay

Chardonnay 70%, French Colombard 20%, Viognier 10% (distributor)
Chardonnay 50%, Pinot Noir (white) 40%, Viognier 10% (BarrelMonkey)

Chenin Blanc

Chenin Blanc 67.70%, Sauvignon Blanc 33.3% (Kitchen)
Chenin Blanc 50%, French Colombard 50% (distributor)

Fernão Pires

Fernão Pires 70%, Branco Arinto 30% (El Campeon)

Gewurztraminer

Gewurztraminer 50%, Piesporter 50% (ratflinger)

Muscato

Muscato 78%, Alicante Bouschet 22% (Guasto-IS)

Pinot Grigio

Pinot Grigio 34%, Muscat Canelli 33%, French Colombard 33% (distributor)

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc 50%, Chenin Blanc 40%, Malvasia 10% (distributor)

Semillion

Semillion 70%, Muscadelle 15%, Sauvignon Blanc 15% (Chateau Belingard – Reserve Monbazillac)

 

[Hazelemere]

Petite Sirah Foch 2021, 2023

This is Lodi Mettler Vineyard 2021 Petite Sirah RC212 fermented almost raisined but not quite, in really nice condition Amarone style blended with my 2023 homegrown Marechal Foch homegrown and fermented with RC212/71B yeast combo, both wines American oaked with cubes during malolactic fermentation. The Petite Sirah was 29 brix rocket fuel and the Foch at SG 1.096 dropped the alcohol into the mid 14.5+ % range. All grapes were hand destemmed and fermented uncrushed. Here are my tasting comments:

Appearance - clear inky purple

Smell - good clean fragrant nose - hard to describe (maybe its too cold having just been pulled out of my cooler from a bottle split)

Tannin - good (high enough for this to age). I have 2 left and will leave them alone

Acid - good (the Foch boosts the acid on an otherwise super-ripe flat Petite Sirah)

Flavour - good rich balanced red. I'll save the last 2 bottles for my wife who loves rich, complex, low acid reds which this. It tastes like it needs more time for the tannins to drop so I'll let it. If you grow Marechal Foch and can find Petite Sirah in grapes or even as juice this is a good way to use it. The Foch makes the Petite Sirah more complex and the Petite Sirah mutes the acid of the Foch.

Bottom line - really good way to use Marechal Foch

retaste

Appearance - clear inky purple

Smell - good clean fragrant nose - cocoa, venison, Chinese 5 spice, plums

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - good rich balanced red. Foch improves the sky high brix Amarone style Petite Sirah IMHO.

 

[mpdeem]

When using grapes, are you fermenting them separately and blending the wines or fermenting all the varietals together?

Great question.

I am guessing classical Bordeaux blends are fermented seperately, blended later after wine from each varietal has had time to age and express itself (so to speak). This is pure conjecture on my part of course

I am even more curious as two of my favorite "Bordeaux blends" are from two different countries:
-Lynch-Bages Pauillac, France (late 70s - ear;y 90s)
-Rustenberg John Miriam X, Stellenbosch, South Africa (90s-thru mid 2000s)

If anyone has had any luck replicating those two wines I would love to hear how you did it

 

[Hazelemere]

always ferment separately so you more flexibility wrt blending or not

 

[winemaker81]

If anyone has had any luck replicating those two wines I would love to hear how you did it

The problem with replicating a wine is that we can get the varietals, but we cannot get the grapes.

Fall 2023 my son, niece, and I decided to replicate McGregor Rob Roy Red, which is a Cabernet Franc heavy blend, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This winery is in the NY Finger Lakes, and all grapes are grown locally. The blend varies from year-to-year, but is typically 50-60% CF.

So we made 16 gallons each CF and CF, and 8 gallons Merlot. My up-front guess was a 60/30/10 blend, but we'd make the decision at bottling time. We also intended to do a similar blend with CS as the dominant grape, e.g., 60/30/10 CS/CF/Merlot.

Fast forward to October 2024. We made 2 blends using the above percentages, as a starting point. We expected to adjust them. However ... we hated both wines. The CF was distracted by the CS and Merlot ("distracted" is the right word), and the CF overshadowed the CS in the opposite blend.

Our final result? We bottled the CF as a varietal, the CS with 10% Merlot, and the remainder (roughly 5 gallons Merlot, 3 gallons CS, and 1 gallon mixed CF/CS residue from barrels) was a Frankenwine, which actually turned out very good.

I'm not trying to discourage attempts to replicate a commercial wine; rather, I'm setting expectations. The grapes we purchased from CA were just too different from the NY grapes, and the anticipated blends did not work. That said, things turned out fine and we are happy with our result -- simply said, we ended up in a different place than expected.

According to Wikipedia, Lynch-Bages in Pauillac has planted 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. That doesn't mean those are the percentages in the wine, but it's a starting point. Go into blending with an open mind and don't let ending up at a different destination bother you, as long as the wine is good.

 

[mpdeem]

I'm not trying to discourage attempts to replicate a commercial wine; rather, I'm setting expectations. The grapes we purchased from CA were just too different from the NY grapes, and the anticipated blends did not work. That said, things turned out fine and we are happy with our result -- simply said, we ended up in a different place than expected.

Go into blending with an open mind and don't let ending up at a different destination bother you, as long as the wine is good.

Thank you for sharing your expierences. I would love to have tasted your Frankenwine...interesting in that sometimes the field blends end up being better, prehaps more forgiving due to the variety of grapes included. Rather like plant breeding/varietials in that sometimes a landrace/grex provides a lovely complexity - more forgiving of different or subpar growing conditions-than their single varietal counterparts.

I really understand the difference fruit origin alone can make. For example, to me CA Cabernet Sauvignon has a much different flavor profile than its Bordeaux grown counterpart. Differences in soil, temperature, humidity and so forth all have tremendous impact on flavor. CA Cabernet Sauvignons tend to have a much more fruit foward jammy type profile. The really good examples have a semi sweet dark Morello cherry note unique to Napa/Sonoma. My mom lives in Sonoma and has made Cabs from Sonoma fruit, each one possesing that distinct Morello cherry note.

Lynch-Bages Paulliac - the closest "Bordeaux blend: in terms of taste has been Rustenberg John Miriam X from Stellenbosch, South Africa - Go figure. OF course here I am refering to 1980s-early 90s era Lynch against 90s -ear;y 2000 Rustenberg. Unfortunately Lynch-Bages is now much more expensive...and Rustenberg harder to find..so I cannot speak to more current samples. Nonetheless I am surprised to find that a South African 'Bordeaux' blend more faithfully replcaites a Paulliac Bordeaux blend.

As an aside I am also intrigued by the fact that the SA Bordeaux blends tasted more resemble French wines than say CA Cabernets. My tasting of SA Cabernet/Bordeaux blends is limited so perhaps there are wines that mor resemble their CA counterparts.

As for my own winemaking efforts - I seriously have no aspirations of making anything close to Lynch-Bages. Heck even my meager sparkling wine efforts suggest I might be better off producing high alcohol yeasty wine 'spirits'. Given my location and abilities (or lack thereof) I am content to aspire to something quaffable with a pleasing (to me) flavor profile. For those of yu familiar with the Tintin books, I am like Captain Haddock in the Seven Crystal Balls, desperatey trying to recreate the magic act seeing at the local caberet, attempting to transform water into whisky...and failig every time Unlike Haddock, I am having fun in my efforts, just enjoying learning each sip of the way.

 

[winemaker81]

Thank you for sharing your expierences. I would love to have tasted your Frankenwine...interesting in that sometimes the field blends end up being better, prehaps more forgiving due to the variety of grapes included.

I do both field blending and post-aging blending. It all depends on the situation. Field blending is easier -- crush, ferment, age, and bottle. There is no decision making once the grapes are purchased.

This may sound bizarre, but when we Frankenwined the Merlot/CS/CF, there wasn't enough wine leftover to make it worth while to selectively blend. We netted 3.5 cases.

To folks making 23 liter batches, that may seem like a lot. But the wine is divvied between my son, my niece, and myself. Any batch that produces less than 3 cases is not worth worrying about. It will either be good, or not.

Whatever wine is my least favorite is used in cooking, and unless there is a serious defect, all boiled wine tastes alike.

I have NO problem pouring a bottle of wine into whatever I'm making for dinner. I've got 20 or 30 cases in the cellar, so I won't run out.

As for my own winemaking efforts - I seriously have no aspirations of making anything close to Lynch-Bages.

I won't either, but I don't let that bother me. NEVER compare yourself to such wines. We don't have access to comparable fruit, and it's self abuse to worry about that.

A while back one of our members stated that he can buy a dozen wines better than his best. DUH. The best wines produced by our members will lose in comparison to hundreds of wineries. Comparing our individual efforts against the thousands of commercial wines is a guaranteed failure.

Your winemaking will improve over time. Keep reading WMT, pay attention to what folks do that improves their wines, and focus on making good wine.

Something else to consider is what FWK does in formulating blends. They focus on the "profile" of a wine. Some of their blends use grapes totally foreign to the type they are simulating. They are not emulating a wine; they are producing something that matches the style.

Food for thought ...

 

[Bmd2k1]

My current fav blend was a Chilean Cab, Malbec, Carmenere --- unfortunately no clue on the %'s....as it was and RJS kit. (it would be nice if the kit manufacturers would share the % breakdowns.)

Cheers!