blending wines

Don't worry about oxydation. As has been pointed out in other threads, wine provides an environment that is toxic to most things. A brief exposure to air isn't going to damage it.

Regarding how much to pull -- This is up to you and your needs. For your own needs blending each time you pull a cork will work, but for giving away you need to blend-n-bottle. And for the long term it will work out better to do the blending once and have the bottles ready to go.

So I'd pull all 29 corks and get it done with.

I've currently got a Vino del Vida Pinot Noir ready to bottle. I appears to be coming along nicely. I diluted it to 5-1/2 gallons, which results in one full carboy (5-1/4 gallons after sediment loss). This eliminates topping up the carboy -- initially I had more than would fit in the carboy so I kept it in a spare wine bottle under airlock.

Other threads have commented on the fact that diluting to anything other than 6 gallons changes the balance of the wine, but given that the vendor recommends topping up with water I won't believe that it makes than much difference. :-)

Bryan

Blending can give some unpredictable results. The blended wine may produce a haze after a while.

The best way to go would be blending in a carboy, waiting for a month or so and then botlle.

Luc

I'm making my first kit Chardonnay right now from Spagnols, this is a Grand Cru Kit. I don't think much of this so far. Time will tell. I added some acid because I tested it and just knew it would be flabby to me. (The pH was low, TA very low.) Anyway I obviously decided to 'semi' follow the instructions... I did not make this at 6 gallons, I added water to 1.090 SG; that was roughly 5.5 gallons. I think it's very dark for a young wine but lets see where it ends up. I did add the bentonite at first like they state, I assumed that was partially for the color issue I might have.

To answer your real question, I blend Syrah and Cab almost every year. My source is Regina Juice for the most part so it might be slightly higher in quality than yours but I think they would compare well; they are both average quality at best. I'm bottling last years (2005) now, literally. I usually taste them all, blend a few, test the acids, mess around a bit more. I seem to like reds at a TA of 5 -5.5.

I just bottled one batch at; 5 gallons 2005 cab from juice, 5 gallons

2005 Syrah from grapes and 2 gallons 2004 'mostly cab' from juice. What I doing now is 10 gallons 2005 Syrah from juice with 5 gallons Cab from juice.

You may want to consider buying a Cab box wine, adding some oak and making a few bottles blended at different ratios from it. You could get your proportions where you want them that way. Most California box wines are not that well oaked; the NZ or Auswines are better at that. You could also try the 'oak tea' idea to get some oak into it quickly too.

Joe

thanks all for the advice. I'm pulling the cork on 29 bottles and putting in a carboy, doing the blending, waiting to see if it hazes and then rebottling when clear.

What a great group of experience. thanks. DAve

Joe Sallustio wrote:

I've never had a clear wine form a haze after blending. Any idea what would cause that? How do you clear it?

Bryan

I pulled the 28 corks. Blended and sure enough it had a haze. No idea why, but Luc was correct on my blending, it hazed. So I have a 6 gallon carboy and a 1 gallon topped and sitting. I hope it doesn't take a month. I'll try a laser pointer into it - to see when it clears.

BTW, the blending has made the wine taste much better. woohoo. Now if I can get it clear. :*)

thanks, all. DAve p.s. I assume I should add nothing to make the clearing happen quicker.

Jake Speed wrote:

Dave,

You may need to add a fining agent, but I'd wait on that until Luc has a chance to reply. If this is needed he may have specific recommendations based upon the cause of the haze.

Bryan

Joe, the pH and TA measurements on kits before they are finished fermenting will not give you the right value - apparently, this is because the concentration process binds some acid so that it's not "visible" to the measurement. So you might end up with too much acid, especially since you did not fully dilute the must. I went through this once, also with a Charodnnay kit and ended up with TA over 9g/L in the end - way too sour.

I'd second the colour observation - I did 3 or 4 white kits from Spagnol's about 3 years ago, and they all started with a colour that I'd associate with several years of aging. I checked the production dates just to make sure - all fresh. The wines came out okay, pretty good actually, but they certainly don't taste like what they look like. I wonder if this is the company "house style'?

Pp

Well, the good news is I used tartaric so I can probably cold stabilize it back out... :)

I had no idea what was going on, the pH was low too. i wonders if they did some sort of ion exchange or something like that. Thanks for the heads up. It's going nice and slow, was at 1.06 this morning.

Joe

The darker color might be associated with juice that was allowed extended air contact to get the desired flavor profile. In the process, they may have gotten some enzymatic browning of the juice.

Gene

Well, it appears to be clearing a little already, from reading above, I'm setting outside in 40-60 degree weather for colder storage. Maybe that will help. Unfortunately, here in Raleigh we are not getting as cold as a good cold snap would help with clearing.

I'll check on it in a week and update ya all. DAve

Dave Allis> I pulled the 28 corks. Blended and sure enough it had a haze. No idea

Today I bottled the blend. Thanks for your inputs, this is a good wine, now.

The original problem was: After making a Vino-del-Vida kit, bottling and aging, it tasted really "weak". So I blended.

78% Shiraz and 22% Cab. Sauv. from Trader Joe's $4.99 list. :*) Though input for Box wines, and other low end wines, I decided to go all the way up to a $4.99 Cab. :*)

It clouded when blended and I left it set for a while, including sitting in the garage for coldness (30-50, not that cold, but hey, it's global warming!), and now it's clear and tastes great.

woo-hoo, thanks DAve

Dave Allis> Well, it appears to be clearing a little already, from reading above,