14.4 Blending

Question 1

What is blending?

Answer 1

the mixing together of two or more batches of wine

Question 2

When can blending take place?

Answer 2

• at any time during the winemaking process

- most often just prior to finishing and packaging

Question 3

What types of wines can be blended?

Answer 3

• from different grape varieties
• from different locations (from different vineyards, different regions or even different countries)
• from different grape growers or businesses that sell grapes, must or wine
• from different vintages
• that have been treated differently in the winery (e.g. wine made from free run juice and wine made from press juice, or wine matured in oak with wine that has been stored in stainless steel or concrete)
• that have been treated equally in the winery but are in different vessels for logistical reasons (e.g. unless a wine is made in very small quantities, wine fermented or matured in barrels will need to be blended together to make up the required volume).

Question 4

For an EU wine to be labelled with a PDO, how much of the grapes must come from the defined geographical area?

Answer 4

100%

Question 5

For what reasons might a producer blend?

Answer 5

1. balance
2. consistency
3. style
4. complexity
5. minimize faults
6. volume
7. price

Question 6

Give an example of blending to achieve balance.

Answer 6

a batch of wine from a warmer vineyard or that has been picked late may be blended with a batch of wine from a cooler vineyard or that has been picked early to fine tune acidity levels

Question 7

Give an example of blending partners commonly used to achieve balance.

Answer 7

• Merlot provides body and ripe, plummy fruit to a blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, which, when not fully ripe, can be too astringently tannic on its own.

Question 8

Give 3 examples of wine styles where consistency is needed across different years.

Answer 8

1. Sherry
2. non-vintage sparkling wine
3. inexpensive wines where the consumer may not expect nor accept significant vintage variation

Question 9

Give an example of blending to achieve a certain style.

Answer 9

• winemakers often make their wines to a certain ‘house style’
• winemakers might want to create wines of certain quality levels within their range (e.g. a premium or super-premium wine for bottle ageing and a lower-priced wine (e.g. mid-priced) for earlier consumption)

Question 10

Give an example of blending to minimise faults.

Answer 10

• if wine in one barrel is showing significant volatile acidity, that wine may be sterile-filtered to remove acetic acid bacteria and then blended into a larger volume of un-faulty wine to lower the concentration and sensory perception of acetic acid

Question 11

Give an example of blending for volume.

Answer 11

• areas with small vineyards: winemakers are likely to need to blend the wines from different vineyards to produce viable volumes of certain wines
• poor vintages

Question 12

Give an example of blending for price.

Answer 12

• Chardonnay sometimes blended with Trebbiano and Semillon
• latter two are cheaper than Chardonnay, keeping the price point of the wine low.
• inclusion of Chardonnay in the blend helps the wine to sell

Question 13

Why might a producer choose not to blend?

Answer 13

• if the grapes comes from a single vineyard to maintain the character of the fruit and/or quality of wine coming from that particular vineyard
• term ‘single vineyard’ on the label can also make the wine seem more rare and distinctive
• some grape varieties have pronounced and distinctive aromas (such as Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling) and blending with other grape varieties may dilute the character of these grape varieties

Question 14

Describe the blending process.

Answer 14

• generally starts with blending trials using measuring cylinders and small volumes of wines to distinguish the proportion of each wine in the favoured blend before conducting on a much larger scale
• requires a high level of skill and experience

Question 15

When is blending best carried out? Why?

Answer 15

Before stabilisation

• in case any instabilities arise from the blend
  (e. g. tartrate stability is dependent on pH level, and this can be altered by blending wines with different pH levels)