Good Morning!

Yesterday I had an email asking about how I choice the grapes I blended together to create my red wine called Fireplace. He ask me about wine blending in general and then ask how do you know if it will work. Thanks Bobby…Here are my thoughts!

Blending happened for me by accident…Back 15 years ago, I still made kit wine and I loved the final product, and I just let myself enjoy it. The moment blending happened for me was when I had Cabernet in my glass and brought out a bottle of the Merlot I had just bottled and when I went back into the house to grab some crackers and more cheese, he filled up my glass with the Merlot.

This was really no big deal to me but when the glass got to my nose I noticed the aroma was completely different and once I had a sip, I liked what was in my glass. after that glass was finished. I refilled with the Merlot and I did not like the wine as well as the Cab/Merlot combination. That got me to thinking about how to pair my wines and make something I might like better. How did I know if it would work?
Honestly, I had no clue but every time I made batches of wine I would save a few bottles back for my “library”. Once, I thought something might work I would open the two bottles and get out a piece of paper and write down what I thought I was tasting and aromas and etc.

Then I would get a glass and pour equal amounts of the wine and try to create something better than each one tasted alone. It was crazy fun and I learned much about my personal preferences. At this point I only tried this with my wines. I was starting to get wiser about reading wine labels and learning how much of which varietal was in each producers bottle. I like the bottles that when you turn to the back label it will say Syrah 85%, Merlot, 10% and Cabernet 5%. I could not tell how of each wine or the grapes I was tasting but I keep trying. I would play a great party game when friends came over and I would bust out my new blends and see which wine they would gravitate to.

Blending is like dating. You can tell if someone has potential. If they are your “style”, if your attracted and do you want some more? I remember saying to a friend, this wine is rich, this one is light, this one has a long finish and she said, I wish finding a husband was this easy! I said well, the great thing about wine is if your tastes change you really don’t need to get a divorce, you just open a new bottle. She laughed and I was right.

I made two blends that won in amateur winemaking competitions. One was Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion and I made a Pinot Noir and Cabernet blend that both took Gold medals at the Indianapolis Wine Competition in 2005 and 2006. I loved the combinations and so did the judges.

I hope this gets you thinking about flavors you like alone or flavors you might not like so much and try to create your own blends!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi