How to conduct a simple blending trial

[Richard S]

Ok then, this is my first attempt at doing something positive and useful for the forum.

I have read several threads where people express an interest in blending wines, this is something that I have been itching to have a crack at for some time.

Before you start tipping bottles of various wines into a demi and swilling them round it would be a good idea to conduct a blending trial, this is how I did mine.

First, I did a little research on the internet regarding blending and used a few basic ideas for doing a blending trial and tailored them to meet my needs.

I selected Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz for the trial because 1. I know they blend well (it’s been done before) and 2. I happened to have both on my wine rack!

[Richard S]

Equipment needed:

1 bottle each of the wine that you want to blend.

7 glasses

An accurate way of measuring small amounts of liquids, I used a 10ml syringe.

Some small sticky labels.

A pen and paper.

Some friends or family members to help “judge” the wine (this isn’t that important as you are attempting to determine which blend suits YOU.

[Richard S]

Method

Using the labels and a pen, identify each glass 1 – 7.

Using the syringe, put measured amounts of wine in each glass as follows:

Glass 1 - 40ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 10ml Shiraz or 80%/20%

Glass 2 - 35ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 15ml Shiraz or 70%/30%

Glass 3 – 30ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 20ml Shiraz or 60%/40%

Glass 4 - 25ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 25ml Shiraz or 50%/50%

Glass 5 - 20ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 30ml Shiraz or 40%/60%

Glass 6 - 15ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 35ml Shiraz or 30%/70%

Glass 7 - 10ml Cabernet Sauvignon and 40ml Shiraz or 20%/80%

Make sure that you write down the contents of each glass on a sheet of paper.

Turn the glasses so that the labels face away from you then if possible get someone else to move the glasses around randomly so they are no longer lined up 1 – 7.

Start tasting. If at first you can’t decide on ones you like, discard the ones that you don’t like, we discarded 2 glasses after the first round of tasting. Carry on until you have a winner then look at the label and check against your sheet. In our case, glass 3 was the best blend (60% Cabernet Sauvignon & 40% Shiraz). You will now know what percentages of those 2 wines to blend on a larger scale.

[Richard S]

Lastly, drink all the trial wine, much better with friends or family.

The pics here are Mark disposing of the trial wine and us deciding if glass 3 or 4 was the best.

Good Luck!

[lockwood1956]

That's fab Richard, great job

thank you



I have added a couple of PDF files that may be useful during tastings....saves having to label the glasses

hope you find them useful
I downloaded them from this website

https://www.aromadictionary.com

regards
Bob

Extra posts removed and topic locked as per other tutorials

anyone else feel like doing a tutorial?
more than happy to have them.