Blending with Audrey

There is very little that is more fun than blending wine. I'd have to say it's one of the best parts of the job. From February through the end of summer I will be spending a lot of time working with different barrels, varietals, and blends determining the single best wine I can make. This encompasses not just finding the highest expression of a particular vineyard or varietal, but consideration of a number of factors including varietal percentages in the finished wines, vintage characteristics, barrel choice and percentage of new oak, pH, sweetness, etc.

One of the first things we're doing in the cellar around February is starting to pull samples of the wines that have finished secondary fermentation and running some rudimentary analysis to get a handle on what we have. We're also tasting individual barrels to get an idea of how the young wines taste. Another important aspect is that by February the wines have sucked up a ton of new oak (in 2009 we purchased 80% new wood) and we get generally the highest sensory experience of vanilla and sweet tannin in the wines. This can be exhilarating but also frustrating, since on the one hand you get to taste pure oak and really develop an idea of how different coopers compare, but on the other there's really no way to determine how the wine is going to taste 12 months down the road. At this early stage you are only really tasting for saturation, tannin, density and what I think of as "high notes" added from the oak.

February Samples:
(1) Cocoa notes, dark fruits, showing less suavity than expected.
(2) Nice sweet tannin and starting to show some black fruits. Finishes nicely.
(3) Sweeter than the others. High concentration. Round, less spice than expected.
(4) Very French with tight smoke. Black fruits predominate.
(5) Velvety texture, purple fruits showing, has some sweet finish and hints at red peppers.
(6) Cocoa notes here again, purple fruits, slightly upfront tannin.
(7) Vanilla, mellow spice. Purple fruits predominate.
(8) Lots of grip, fine tannin in the mouth. Chewy. Mellow spice. Shows more upfront than finish.
(9) Velvet tannin here as well, with more dark fruits, sweet and spicy.
Blend (with press wine): nice synergy here, with the press wine adding depth and weight.















May Samples (same batches as above):
(1) Deep ruby. Chewy. Good bite. Tart raspberry with some citrus and loam. Finishes a little dusty.
(2) Good ruby. Nice nose on this. Rose water, purple fruits, finishes with citrus and mellow tannin.
(3) Dark red fruits on the nose here. Menthol and mint. Integrated acidity and very nice finish. Good body.
(4) Great nose. Still showing a lot of new wood. Tight, dark fruits. Very French.
(5) Purple color. Great nose. Spice on mid palate, vanilla, celery salt, licorice. Lots going on here.
(6) Deep color. Brine on the nose. Very definite impression of salt, minerality and dark red fruits. Long dusty finish.
(7) Mellow nose, at least compared to last sample. Some vanilla and a touch of celery showing up throughout the tasting, but this batch subdued. Dark fruits, not as tight as #4.
(8) Knock out nose: fancy French perfume, fruity purple notes with some sweetness in the tannin, still shows upfront but fills out the mid palate for the blend.
(9) Soft, tight dark fruits on nose. Soft and harmonious, not overt. Particularly tart raspberry on finish.
Blend (with press wine): Deep ruby color. Brine, celery salt, and tart raspberry on the nose. Succulent purple notes in the middle with a lingering sweetness on the finish.