Blending @ the Red Hook Winery

Group 6

• Benjamin M.
• Manteng C.
• Mary M.

On Monday, October 21^st, 2013 in our Wines of the New World symposium we learned how difficult it is to blend wine.  We learn that it is more beneficial to the wine blending experience when a group of individuals who love/like wine come together and try to create a wine with lots of character.  As with anything that involves group work, scheduling conflicts and meetings are one of the hardest things to keep.  As we in Group 6 frantically rushed to get to the red Hook Winery, all of our group members agreed that the time restraint on the bus ride to the winery was unfair.  We all signed up for an 11:00 A.M. class, not a 10:30 A.M. class.  Nonetheless we made it to the winery I made it the winery at 11:20 A.M., Mary M. followed closely behind, and Manteng C. was lost until 12:30 A.M., but made eventually made it.  I can imagine how difficult it would be for winemakers to meet-up with all kind of hectic schedules like ours, but since we are not winemakers by day I guess they probably would not have the problems we did.  So the next process was to blend the wines we had previously chosen.  We had a JU Merlot from 2010, an AFK Cabernet Franc from 2010, and a mixed blend called PUNCH from 2008.  At first we re-familiarized ourselves with each individual wine and then we began to think of possible blends.

Here is a list of our blends that we thought of:

1. Merlot  @ 80%                        Cabernet Franc @ 20%
2. Cabernet Franc @ 80%         Merlot @ 20%
3. Cabernet Franc @ 60%         Merlot @ 20%                                   PUNCH @ 20%
4. Merlot @ 60%                        Cabernet Franc @ 20%                  PUNCH @ 20%
5. PUNCH @ 40%                      Merlot @ 30%                                   Cabernet Franc @ 30%

We ultimately went with the third option as it was spicy on the nose with traces of plum and berry, a nice garnet with purple hue.  On the palette it lingered but wasn’t overpowering in any aspect.  It was a nice blend of acidity, sugar, and tannins masked in a full-bodies red wine.  It was a bit challenging with the cups and syringes, but once we all figured it out the rest went very smooth.  We also didn’t get to taste all the wines because the free-for-all to taste all six wines was a bit much.  Suggestions for the next time would consist of more organization in having designated pourers and maybe use one of the iPads as a record keeper of sorts to help with votes for which wines were the best.  In any case it was overall an experience our group would definitely love to have many times over.