Wine Notes & Wine Blending

Today was an exciting day in the University winery. In my Wine Production and Analysis class, we usually have several projects we simultaneously work on and monitor each day. We are currently focusing on the effects of SO2 additions at different concentrations, ML additions, and various temperature treatments for fermentation.  

But today was a change of pace: we were given the opportunity to create our own blends of wine. (So cool, right??)

{Blending our groups' white wine}

A lot of our decision-making for blending choices relied on 

our sense of smell and what we picked up in the aromas of the available wines.
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 {Casey proudly holding our final product}

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{Red Blend}  

Did I mention that this is a contest, too? Ohh yeah. :)

 This is an in-class competition to see who can make the best wine while following all guidelines:

 {WHITE}

We had to use at least 75% Chardonnay in our white blend, but since none of us particularly liked the Chardonnay that we had to work with, we used the acidic attributes from the Verdelho and the light floral components from the Torrontes to mask the overwhelming rich and oaky aroma of the Chardonnay.
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Our blending choices for mixing with the Chardonnay were:

-Torrontes

-Gewurztraminer

-Riesling

-Verdelho

There were no requirements to the percentages of the adjunct wines as long as the total blend was at least 75% Chardonnay.

[What my group decided to blend]:

Chardonnay--75%

Verdelho--20%

Torrontes--5%

{RED} 
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For the red blending experiment, we had to have exactly 50% Grenache Noir, fermented in stainless steel tanks--no more, no less.

Our blending choices for mixing with the stainless Grenache were:

-Grenache (French Oak barrel aged)

-Grenache (neutral barrel aged)

-Tempranillo (stainless)

-Barbera (stainless)

-Syrah (stainless)
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[What my group decided to blend]:

Grenache Noir--50%

Barbera--40%

Tempranillo--10%

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I am really pleased with the way our red turned out... I can't wait to see what the judge panel thinks. The winning group will win a prize (AND, of course, have bragging rights of blending the best wine!)

Cheers,

B

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