Women Rule in Blending Whitecliff Winery's 2012 Sky Island

The blending began with a little 2009 Whitecliff Sparkling to cleanse our palate. Great sparkling at that!  

The subjects at hand were 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot. 

The mission, to come up with Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery's 2012 Sky Island blend. 

Tasting panel included 3 of Whitecliff's winemakers, 3 women and 2 male guests for a total of 8.

Six blends later a decision was made.  First was the chart that was filled in as each blend was mixed

                            Blend 1              Blend 2           Blend 3            Blend 4        Blend 5             Blend 6

Cabernet Sauvignon	62.5%	47.5%	50%	30%	75%	62.5%
Cabernet Franc	10%	25%	25%	30%	10%	15%
Petit Verdot	2.5%	2.5%	4%	4%	2.5%	2.5%
Malbec	6%	6%	6%	4%	2.5%	5%
Merlot	19%	19%	15%	32%	10%	15%

Blend 1 lots of black cherry and blackberry

Blend 2 black fruit, nice soft pepper spice on finish that fell off as time went on, better aromatics

Blend 3 more red berry, nothing stands out, PV overpowers all the fruit of the other varietals

Blend 4 black fruit, little green pepper notes

Blend 5 nice fruit hint of black pepper on finish, but some green notes throughout. 

Blend 6 big nose, nice, taste the CF at first that then mellows out

After tasting blend 5 we tasted the Cabernet Sauvignon alone and it was one of the best NY Cabernet Sauvignons I've tasted.  We all agreed that this should be bottled as a stand alone, however we were vetoed by the head winemaker due to supply constraints.

Voting time came and it was between Blend 1 and Blend 6.......It was a tie, however all 3 women voted for Blend 6.  Woo Hoo...we dominated and backed it up with good reason for our choice.  All 3 winemakers voted for Blend 1.  Women rule and women dominate most of wine purchases...so Blend 6 it will be.  You will have to wait until the Fall at the earliest to even give this a try.

Happy Bitch Wines Tasting Trial #2

Just back from the Society of Wine Educators conference in Rhode Island, and Keryl just back from vacation there is no time to waste.  It was time for tasting trials #2 of Happy Bitch Frizzante.

At this tasting we were going to narrow down the color, sweetness, flavor and aroma. There were two samples that the Winemaster developed for us based on our last tasting trials. A little cheese and crackers and we were set to taste.

Keryl did the honors of opening the first selection.  We compared the selections that were prepared for us to the selections we like from the first tasting trials.  We poured the two new selections in our glass and began the tasting evaluation.  It was quiet.  We swirled and sipped.  OMG I exclaimed, there is no fizz in this.  There were other comments that went around.  To sweet, little dryer, no nose, lacking flavor.  We were very disappointed!  However, all wasn't lost on the evening, we did agree on the color.

First item on Sunday's agenda was to let the Winemaster know of our disappointment and send him back to the lab to create something that will give us a WOW factor.  We're tough bitches! Nobody said creating a wine was going to be easy.

Remember - Happy Bitch Wines will be at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival, September 10 & 11 with two or three of the tasting trial blends for you to vote on.  The winning blend is what we will produce.  If you are in the area, make sure you stop at the festival and visit us in Booth 45 and cast your vote.

Blending Cayuga

A few weeks ago Paul and I were over at Whitecliff Vineyards blending their Cayuga wine.  Cayuga White, which is the proper name of the grape is a hybrid cross between Schuyler and Seyval Blanc. Personally, I haven't met a Cayuga that I liked, but when you are blending wine, you are not blending the wine because you like the grape, you need to blend it for the customer.

On a personal note - this was the first time Paul and I had worked together making a blend.  It was just me and him in the tank room.  We didn't argue, we actually enjoyed working together, I think.

We began by making 150ML bottles of blending Cayuga with tank fermented Chardonnay.  We had our control bottle of Cayuga, then began by adding 10% Chardonnay in 5% increments until it was 50/50.  The two blends that were 85/15 an 80/20 had wonderful bouquets.

After everything was blended we went upstairs to sit with Michael the owner/winemaker. The tastings began.  I liked the 80/20 Paul liked the 70/30.  We weren't satisfied.  So....we went back to the blending table and added Riesling to the mix.  Each 150ML had 10% Riesling.  I liked the blend that was 76.5% Cayuga 13.5 Chard and 10% Riesling.  Or course we never agree - Paul like the blend of 72% Cayuga 18% Chard and 10% Riesling.

But we still weren't happy.  So....we decided to take the Cayuga straight and add residual sugar to it.  We mixed one that was 1.5% 3.6% and 4.4%.  I am not one for sweet wines but with the acidity of the wine you couldn't tell that it was 4.4% RS.

The winning blend was the straight Cayuga with 4.4% RS.  Served cold on a hot summers day, the acidic balance with the RS will make it a very enjoyable wine.  At least I hope.

A few things I learned blending wine:

• Adding vinifera to a hybrid doesn't always make the wine taste better.  
• Adding just a little bit of another variety can change the taste and bouquet dramatically.
• Sometimes balancing out the acid with sugar will make the wine taste better on its own.
• Have a good calculator.