Before we could proceed to the wine making process, our team conducted research since neither of us have extensive wine tasting experience. We researched which red wines pair best with lamb, and we found multiple options for our wine. Since we only had three varietals to choose from at the Red Hook Winery, it was clear that we would definitely go with Cabernet Sauvignon as our base wine and work with this wine from there. We chose the Cabernet Sauvignon as our base wine because it would balance out with the Lamb Steaks Hache with its peppery, black cherry, and licorice taste, along with the smoky, vanilla notes due to the oak aged barrels.
To begin blending, we initially started out with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Cabernet Franc. We found that this blend was very subtle and lost all of the characteristics in which we were looking for in the wine. Our next blend was 75% Cabernet Franc and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. We found that this blend overpowered the peppery notes that we definitely wanted for our wine pairing. Our third blend was the blend in which we originally intended on using, which was 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Cabernet Franc. We felt that this blend was perfect for pairing with the Lamb Steaks Hache and we chose this wine to submit for the blind taste testing, which ultimately won and will be served in the Janet Lefler Dining Room.
