What to blend with Marquette?

[keverman]

I have a very light 2020 Marquette that I need to get bottled that was 20 Brix at harvest. I should have made a Rose, but lacking experience, did not. It's very light bodied, obviously, nice light ruby color, and delicate/pleasant, but thin. It made it through fermentation and MLF ending at 3.3 pH and around 6.0 TA. 2021 was a very good year in the vineyard that came in at 25 brix and I had thoughts of combining vintages, but rather than degrade 2021, I'm thinking maybe I should blend 2020 with a kit and leave 2021 to stand alone. (Although the 2021 pH is high, 3.85, so blending the 2 vintages together would bring pH of that one down, but again, I worry about weakening 2021 which looks to be a very nice year, and ending up mediocre for both) Looking for any suggestions on what type of kit wine might blend well with 2020, not overpowering too much, but helping add some alcohol, body, etc. I made a blend with my 2019 and a kit GSM, and not super happy with that. 2019 was also a weak year, and the GSM overpowered it. Would a kit Pinot Noir be a good choice? (being distant relations) or are there other suggestions? Thank you in advance to anyone with feedback!!

 

[ibglowin]

Have you tried any tannin additions to the wine?

 

[keverman]

Have you tried any tannin additions to the wine?

Not since fermentation. I ferment with an addition of FT Rouge, opti-red and Lallezyme EX.

 

[ibglowin]

Maybe try some bench trials with some additional tannin to see if that helps it with additional mouthfeel. I would be leery to blend with a kit. Made lots of them but no comparison in flavor profile between the two (kit vs fresh grape). You could try a bench trial with blending your 2019 and some 2020 just to see what that brings to the party. Lastly perhaps blending with a pinot which I think Marquette does have a lot in common with. Perhaps pick up a box of Bota Box Pinot Noir and try a bench trial with that and see what you get. Not sure how many gallons you have but perhaps that might be a fun experiment to play with and it would not break the bank since the BB Pinot Noir runs about $3.75 a bottle in the Box

 

[wood1954]

I over sulfured my 2017 Marquette and made a Merlot kit to dilute it 50/50 or so. It turned out very nice, just finished the last bottle recently, 5 years aging really helped

 

[keverman]

Maybe try some bench trials with some additional tannin to see if that helps it with additional mouthfeel. I would be leery to blend with a kit. Made lots of them but no comparison in flavor profile between the two (kit vs fresh grape). You could try a bench trial with blending your 2019 and some 2020 just to see what that brings to the party. Lastly perhaps blending with a pinot which I think Marquette does have a lot in common with. Perhaps pick up a box of Bota Box Pinot Noir and try a bench trial with that and see what you get. Not sure how many gallons you have but perhaps that might be a fun experiment to play with and it would not break the bank since the BB Pinot Noir runs about $3.75 a bottle in the Box

Thanks! I will try the different bench trials suggested....I think I have some Tannin Riche and some Tannin Estate samples on hand.

 

[VinesnBines]

Tannin estate helped some of my wines.