1988 Chardonnay / Seyval Blanc

September 2007 – I had an idea that Seyval and Chardonnay would make a good blend. This wine is the result.


Ingredients

Fruit 6 gallons Seyval juice, 20.5 brix, 1.15 acid, 60ppm sulfite
Pectic Enzyme 3 tsp
Nutrient 4 tsp nutrient + 3 tsp energizer
Yeast Red Star Epernay II
Tannin 1/2 tsp powdered tannin
Acid 1/2 tsp ascorbic acid + 1 tsp citric acid

 

Fruit 6 gallons Chardonnay juice, 23.0 brix, sulfite 30ppm
Grape Tannin 1 tsp
Pectic Enzyme 3 tsp
Nutrient 5 tsp nutrient
Yeast Lalvin kv-1116
Acid 1/2 tsp ascorbic acid + 1 tsp citric acid
Aging Oak toasted oak chips probably American, quantity not recorded

Method

Started Seyval, adding pectic enzyme, nutrient, and energizer 09/22/1988
SG 1.081
Racked Seyval 09/29/1988
SG 1.000
Racked Seyval, added 1/4 tsp K-sulfite + tannin 10/09/1988
SG 0.994
Started Chardonnay, adding pectic enzyme, tannin, and nutrient 10/17/1988
SG 1.092
Racked Chardonnay 10/22/1988
SG 1.014
Racked Chardonnay 11/14/1988
SG 0.998
Racked Chardonnay, added 1/4 tsp K-sulfite, ascorbic acid + citric acid 01/25/1989
SG 0.994
Racked Seyval, added 1/4 tsp K-sulfite, ascorbic acid + citric acid 01/28/1989
SG 0.994
Seyval filtered, #1 filter 03/27/1989
SG 0.994
Chardonnay filtered, #1 filter pad 03/27/1989
SG 0.994
Seyval & Chardonnay blended, filtered w/ #2 filter pad; Half of blend bottled; remaining carboy of blend put on toasted oak chips 04/09/1989
SG 0.994
Oak removed 05/30/1989
SG 0.994
Bottled 11/12/1989
SG 0.994

Notes

Yield 32 bottles regular, 25 bottles oaked
Alcohol 12.6%
Afterthoughts This was an interesting blend, one that I would try again. The oak was less successful; this one was better with more of a Chablis flavor than a White Burgundy flavor.
October 2018 I took a bottle of this to a Rochester chapter American Wine Society meeting. It was not a hit there, but friends liked it. Like with all my blends of this era, if I could do it against I’d have let the wines age 6 months and done bench mixes. I suspect that a 40/60 Seyval/Chardonnay or the reverse (60/40) would have been better. This was two good wines of different character battling it out, rather than supporting each other.