Student Blend Requisition

Diamond John, Jesus Rodriguez

Team #4

As team four on this project, we have the menu item “Beef Jardiniere and Duchess Potatoes”. This meal is warming, filling, and savory. The duchess potatoes adds a thick creamy component that soaks up all of that jus from the beef stew. Prior to our visit to Red Hook Winery, we discussed that a meritage wine of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (with a bit of Petite Verdot) would be perfect to go with the stew. We believed the Cabernet Sauvignon would bring the tannous structure that we needed while Merlot would bring fruity flavors, with some acidity. We definitely wanted a wine that had acids with a bit of tannins to cut the fat of the stew and the creamy component from the duchesse potatoes. However, our trip to Red Hook Winery guided us into a slightly different path.

At the winery, we tasted three different red wines. The first red wine that we tasted was a 2018 Cabernet Franc from North Fork Long Island. The wine was medium low bodied with slight tannins to coat the mouth. There was definitely hints of toasted oak with medium acidity. The fruits that came off the palate were currents, and raspberries. This wine had a light finish. The second wine that we tasted was a 2018 Merlot, also from North Fork. This wine was very dry and tannous. You can identify that there was a long maceration from the tannins alone. It was very high in acidity and gave off tobacco and concentrated black cherry on the palate. We believe this Merlot lacked balance. Finally we tasted a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. This wine was very fruity with medium dryness. It had less tannins than the previous wines. After tasting all three wines we came up with our final decision.

Originally we wanted to blend Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot but the Merlot wine was extremely tannous, acidic, and heavy. We thought the combination of the two would over power our dish. Instead we decided that a mix of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot Blend would compliment each other better. The blend would ideally contain 60% of the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot and 40% of the 2018 Cabernet Franc. We want the acidity and tannins from the Cabernet Franc to blend with the fruity notes of the Cabernet Sauvignon. We believe this blend will compliment our menu item well.