WinesoftheNewWorldF22

Team #7 Renata Saunders

On our second trip to The Red Hook Winery, we were finally able to blend our wines, which was an amazing experience. For my dish of roasted loin of pork charcutière with lentils, gaufrette potatoes and braised collard greens. I chose to blend white wine with the base wines that were provided to us. We had tasted the base wines on our previous visit and from then I had an idea of what I wanted to blend. In my mind, I wanted a light to medium-bodied wine, with medium acidity, lots of aromatics and not too much going on on the palate so it can pair with multiple dishes. The first blend I did was 2 parts of a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (60%) and Chardonnay (40%) and 1 part of a Chardonnay aged in new oak, I found this blend to have too much acidity and more fruit characters than I was hoping for. So I switched the part of the wine and did 2 parts (80%) of the Chardonnay aged in new oak and 1 part (20%) of the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay blend, this turned out to be the blend I was looking for. The process of blending was quite fascinating and I felt like a scientist conducting experiments, I think what helped me was knowing what I was looking for in a wine beforehand this made the process a little easier.

My 2nd visit to Red Hook winery was amazing. That day we all blended different types of red and white wine based on our food. Wine blending is the art of mixing wines of different grape varieties, or wines released in different years. It seeks to produce a wine that has superior flavor and balance to its base ingredients. Wine blending began thousands of years ago. At that time, the purpose of mixed vineyards was for natural disasters and most significantly for a successful harvest. The blend has provided winemakers with more consistent yields and wines, with unpredictable weather patterns making the ripening of red grapes more difficult. At red hook winery, we tasted Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. For Petit Verdot and Merlot grapes, they use cultural yeast and oak. I blended cabernet franc 66% and Petit Verdot 34%. Cabernet franc is high in acidity, heavy tearing, and floral aromas so, it will pair well with my chimichurri skirt steak cause it will cut the fattiness of the meat and Petit Verdot has floral and spice aromas which go well with chimichurri sauce because it has lots of herbs and spices. My final blend of wine turned out the way I want and fulfilled my expectation. I keep more ratio of cabernet franc because of its high acidity which will mix well with petit Verdot cause of its floral aroma. I was expecting I have to make wine from scratch that was my expectation but when I reached there I see the wine is already made and I need to blend it together. I feel like if I made wine from scratch I could gather more knowledge which will help me lot in my future.

During my second visit to Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn with Professor Struck and my classmates, I had the opportunity to do a blending exercise this time. I found it very interesting and fun to do. The activity sought the perfect measures to create an original and elegant wine to pair with the designated dish. In this case, my dish is the Braised Beef Jardinière and Duchess Potatoes. The manager, Christopher Nicolson, gave us six wines, three whites and three reds. The red were Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. From the last homework, I learned that Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot were a perfect blend for my dish, and during the practical, I checked it. My measures were two parts of Cabernet Franc and one of Petit Verdot. As a result, I kept the aromas of the spices and tanning from the petit Verdot, a pinch of sweetness but an intensive blackberry taste, good acid, and dry wine from Cabernet Franc.