1989 Red Blend
September 2007 – This was the year of the blends. I did a red and a white blend, neither of which turned out quite as I expected. But I was learning …
Ingredients
| Fruit | 40# Foch, 19.3 brix, 0.99 acid, pH 3.05 |
| Fruit | 40# Leon Millot (Boordy), 19.6 brix, 1.32 acid, pH 3.10 |
| Fruit | 40# Carmine, 16.0 brix |
| Fruit | 40# Chancellor, 19.6 brix, 0.96 acid, pH 3.05 |
| Yeast | Red Star Montrachet |
Method
| Foch crushed | 09/16/1989 SG 1.079 |
| Yeast added to Foch | 09/20/1989 SG 1.079 |
| Leon Millot crushed & yeast added | 09/23/1989 SG 1.081 |
| Foch pressed; Leon Millot pressed; wines blended | 10/04/1989 SG 1.000 |
| Carmine crushed & yeast added | 10/07/1989 SG 1.064 |
| Chancellor crushed & yeast added | 10/07/1989 SG 1.081 |
| Carmine pressed; Chancellor pressed; wines blended | 10/11/1989 SG 1.000 |
| All wines blended | 10/22/1989 SG 1.000 |
| Blend chaptalized with 6 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp K-sulfite, 1 tsp yeast nutrient added | 10/22/1989 SG 1.010 |
| Racked, 1/2 tsp K-sulfite added | 11/12/1989 SG 0.998 |
| Racked, filtered w/#1 filter pad | 11/28/1989 SG 0.998 |
| Racked | 01/28/1990 SG 0.998 |
| racked & bottled | 07/23/1990 SG 0.998 |
Notes
| Yield | 52 bottles |
| Alcohol | 12.0% |
| Afterthoughts | An interesting experiment — while it turned out very drinkable it just didn’t have the flavor I had hoped for.
If I was going to do something like this again I’d buy 80# of each and make a full carboy of each. I’d blend at the 6 month mark, and instead of just pouring it all together I’d spend the time (with a LOT of bread to cleanse the palate) and do proper bench mixing. Then whatever leftover I had the most of would be the basis for a second blend, doing another bench mix. Anything left over at that point would go into a 3rd blend and get used first! |