At the beginning of the blending session at Red Hook Winery, I went in with the expectation of creating a dry red wine to pair with my Braised Beef Jardinière and Duchess Potatoes. We started by tasting the base wines, which included three whites—Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and skin-fermented Chardonnay—and three reds: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.

Initially, I wanted to use all three red wines in my blend, as each had the qualities I was looking for. The Merlot was medium-bodied with a flavor that I tend to gravitate towards, the Cabernet Franc had the full body and tartness I wanted, and the Cabernet Sauvignon had the color, aroma, and some tartness I aimed for. By combining the Cabernet Franc with the Cabernet Sauvignon I believed that it would create the dryness and mouthfeel that would pair perfectly with my dish.

When we started blending, though, the process didn’t go as I expected. My first blend was 50% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% Cabernet Franc, but I didn’t like it. The vegetal notes from the Cabernet Franc overpowered everything so, I removed the Cabernet Franc and increased the Cabernet Sauvignon to 50%. Unfortunately, this made it worse—the salinity increased, and the flavor reminded me of Lay’s chips.

For my third blend, I decreased the Merlot and made Cabernet Sauvignon the dominant grape. I replaced the Cabernet Franc with Sauvignon Blanc to maintain some dryness. This blend was the best of the three, but it still lacked complexity. Finally, I returned to my original idea of having Merlot as the dominant varietal. I made a blend with 55% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 25% skin-fermented Chardonnay instead of Sauvignon Blanc. That’s when I realized that the salinity was coming from the Merlot.

In my final blend, I used 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Cabernet Franc, and 15% skin-fermented Chardonnay. The taste was different than I expected, but the aroma was close to what I had envisioned. I wanted the classic black cherry and blackberry notes typical of Cabernet Sauvignon, and I think I achieved that. The taste had a light-medium body with slight acidity and residual sugars, which wasn’t what I had planned for my dish, but it turned out to be a wine I would enjoy drinking on its own.

In the end, my wine was identified as the second best of the red wines that were blended that day among my peers. Professor Goodlad had created an excellent red blend that I would pair my dish with instead of the blend that I had made, however, I enjoyed this experience even though my results differed from what I had expected.