The process of wine blending involves mixing the juices of different grape varieties. The result of the connection is an improvement in taste characteristics by softening astringency, reducing acidity, imparting aroma, and eliminating a sharp aftertaste.
What is blended wine?
Blended wines are made from a mixture of juices from different cultures. It is rational to produce these types of alcoholic beverages due to the wide flavor diversity of berries and fruits, their changing chemical composition, differences in taste and shades.
The need for a blend is due to the fact that when growing grapes, there are always differences in climate, soil type, weather conditions, degree of fruit ventilation and other factors. Even picking berries from the same vineyard on different days affects their ripeness and sugar content. When growing grapes on a large scale, it is practically impossible to provide the same conditions for the entire crop. As a result, the berries acquire different organoleptic properties and differ in taste and aroma.
When preparing wine at home, you can independently think through the composition of the blend depending on your individual taste preferences. It is allowed to mix both juices of different fruits and ready-made wine materials. For example, pear wine has a mild flavor and requires mixing with a sweeter mixture. Too sugary drinks can be diluted with sour and tart ones so that the taste is pleasant and not harsh.
What types are there?
All blended wines are classified into several varieties. Each category has individual characteristics. You can make any type of blend yourself, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the nuances of all the options.
Blend
The term blend or blend in its original meaning refers to any combination of wine grape varieties. The concept was introduced to the masses by British traders back in the 19th century and was applied to the varieties themselves and the drinks made from them. The blend is used to make the taste of wine more rich and vibrant, as well as to add aroma and texture to the drink. The main purpose of blending is to combine the characteristics of several varieties and balance them with each other.
It is allowed not only to mix red varieties with red, and white with white.In practice, there are cases of combining red wines with white ones. A common example is the French blend Cote-Rôtie from the Rhone River Valley.
To produce this wine, the white variety of Viognier is mixed with the red variety of Syrah.
Vintage wine blends
A blend becomes vintage if several varieties of berries collected within one year are combined to obtain it. For example, if an alcoholic drink is made from Merlot and Shiraz varieties obtained in the same year. There are also specimens containing a set of more than ten varieties. A prominent representative is the Chateauneuf du Pape wine, made from 13 varieties.
Non-vintage blends
Some wines, including sparkling wines and ports, are made from grapes harvested in different years. The main task when creating a drink in this case is to balance aromas, tannins and other qualities that affect the final taste of the product. Non-vintage blends, as a rule, contain a special NV (non-vintage) marking. In addition, there is no mark on the label indicating the year of harvest. Most often, non-vintage sparkling and tart wines are found, but when creating still varieties, this technique is also relevant.
How to blend homemade wine
The composition of the blend at home is determined taking into account your own taste and the availability of raw materials. You can make blended wine in several ways, which have a number of comparative differences. The first way is as follows:
- First, the number of berries of all varieties required to prepare the blend is determined. The berries are weighed, mixed with each other and crushed.
- Juice is separated from the crushed mass by straining and acidity and sweetness are assessed.
- If necessary, adjust the taste by mixing water, sugar and acid, after which the drink is left to ferment.
The considered method is considered simple, but it has significant negative aspects. The inconvenience is that the berries of the desired varieties do not always ripen at the same time. In addition, the fruits always release different amounts of juice, so a lot of unsqueezed juice remains in the crushed grape mass. To solve the problem, you can heat the pulp or wait for it to ferment, but some of the fruits may form mucus because of this.
According to the second method, the required amount of juice is obtained from berries of different varieties separately. After collecting the juice, sugar content and acidity are determined and the taste is also corrected separately. Then wort is prepared from the liquids, depending on what kind of wine needs to be made - sweet, strong or table. The finished worts are combined in one container with each other and left to ferment.
The advantage of the second method is the ability to use fruits that ripen at different periods. The wort obtained from one variety can be added to the fermenting wort of another. In this case, mixing is possible even at the end of the fermentation process. When fresh wort enters already fermenting wort, the process actively resumes, and beneficial yeast destroys harmful fungi. Due to this, new fermentation always proceeds faster and does not require the addition of yeast.
The third method involves mixing not wort and juices, but already fully prepared wines.The main disadvantage of this option is that the result of mixing some wines is a bad taste due to the incompatibility of flavors.
As a result, to obtain a high-quality alcoholic drink, prolonged aging for 3-5 years is required.
Terms and conditions of storage of the finished product
To store homemade blended wine, it is recommended to use opaque glass bottles. The containers are pre-washed and dried, after which the drink is poured inside and sealed. Next, the bottles are wrapped in cloth and immersed in hot water at a temperature of 60 degrees for 20 minutes. Having pulled the containers out of the water, you can put them away in a permanent storage location. Subsequent storage conditions for blends do not differ from the storage of regular wine. Suitable places include a cellar, a special refrigerator or a closet.
The shelf life of blends prepared at home depends on environmental conditions, the selected grape varieties and production characteristics. If classic wines created in professional conditions do not have a shelf life, then homemade drinks can not lose their taste and aroma characteristics for 5-7 years.
