I want to blend

[Paul Moylan]

I picked some great grapes this year and have the essentials to make a Bordeaux blend. Cab, Merlot, petit verdot and morvedra. A few recent tastes tell me that I am onto something good. I want badly to blend this year. I would like someone to specifically tell me all the steps, the funnest way to go about this. I do not have a real sofisticated pallet, so I plan to invite some good noses to help me. Do I need a bunch of caraffs? Do I taste each, write comments about each, decide what I want to acheive in a blend??

[Chris Whitlock]

Hi Paul,
Blending those varietals should be a lot of fun (although technically morvedre is not one of the 6 variatels in a Bordeaux – used more in a Rhone style, but I won't tell). I do similar blends myself. Having friends give input to the process is also a great idea, but keep in mind - everyones palet is different, so it's possible to get 10 people with 10 different preferences. In the end, just average out the results and do what YOU like best.

As far as precedure goes, I put samples of the different wines in in small glass jars (pickle, jelly, etc) about the size of a soup can. Mason jars work too! Then I arrange wine glasses in a row with a piece of paper under each to write down percentages. I use 100ml syringes and take whatever amount from each jar and put it into the glasses to come up with different percentages in each glass. I usually don't use less than 10% of anything and if I do, I never go with less than 5% as my pallet is not sensitive enough to detect less than that amount of most varietals.

One thing to keep in mind are the ballances. I typically have low pH merlot (3.35-3.45), so I like to ballance that with my higher pH cabs which can be around 3.70 at times. I shoot for a more stable ph of 3.60 or less. So even if I like the wine with more cabernet for instance, I'll only add enough to keep the pH in good ballance.

Color and tannins are also considerations. I like big zinfandels, but I find the grapes I get lead to a wine that seems to be a little lighter and less tannic than I would prefer. So I usually add in some petit syrah to darken it and give it a little more tannin structure.

Really though, the worst part is the cleanup. Lots of glasses, containers, spills, etc. Anyway, have fun with it and let us know how it turns out!

Cheers!
Chris