Wine 2026 – Update #01

03 November 2025

Why am I posting a 2026 wine plans post while the 2025’s are still fermenting?

Because there’s always a backlog of wines we want to make but lack the capacity to do so. And our livers are happy for this!

Reds

Months ago Shannon asked about reproducing the 2020 Meritage Plus. That year we make a barrel each of Merlot and Zinfandel, and more than a carboy of Bordeaux Blend (equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot). The Meritage Plus was 40% free run Merlot (no heavy pressing), 40% Zinfandel, and 20% Bordeaux Blend.

Exactly reproducing the wine will overtake 2 barrels, which isn’t quite what we want to do. So … we are considering making a field blend with 3 lugs Merlot, 3 lugs Zinfandel, and 2 lugs selected from the other 4 grapes. I personally lean towards Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

We wanted to make Marechal Foch in 2025, but Mother Nature and Dionysus disagreed, so we made Baco Noir. So … making Foch in 2026 makes sense. We’d do another field blend with 2 other of Beth’s varietals.

For barrel #3? We’ve had success with red juice buckets fermented with pomace from other batches, so continuing that makes sense. We have access to Italian juices, so I’m leaning in that direction. Amarosso/Amarone, Dolcetto, Montepulciano, and Nebbiolo/Barolo are available. All sounds good.

White

We’ve made Chardonnel 2 years in a row. Eric & I really liked Beth’s barrel aged Cayuga, so that’s on our agenda. That means getting another barrel for whites … oh, well!

Our second choice for 2025 was Chenin Blanc buckets, so that’s first on our list for 2026. If that doesn’t work out, I would consider Gewurztraminer, Soave (Italian juice), Sauvignon Blanc, our Chardonnay.

It will be interesting to see how things work out a year from now.