OK. After a positive experience on my first two kit wines I'm ready to go
again. This time I'd like to get 2-3 different red wines, bottle up 2-3
gallons of each and then experiment with the remainder by blending with some
from the other(s). Some blends seem a natural - Cabernet/syrah, etc.

Here's my question: Any recommendations on which wines to try and ratios to
blend? Any success stories to share?

TIA.

John

Well, I had a Shiraz that was kinda weak, so I put in 18% Cabernet and
it is a nice table wine.
I tried mixing Pinor Noir with Cab and it wasn't good to me.
Syrah is good with Cab. - I think I mixed 20% syrah to the cab.
Zinfandel and Pinot Noir I tried 30% Zin to the Pinot -- washed out the
Pinot - not good.
That's my experiences.
Have fun experimenting. Oh, and I experiment by mixing ounces, not
bottles, keeping track of the proportion. Like I'll have 4 glasses, each
with 2 ounces of one wine, then experiment by adding x ounces of another
wine. This saves wine. smile. DAve
What brand kits do you do? I"m mostly doing WinExpert - they seem a
little better than others. What do you think?
DAve

JB wrote:
OK. After a positive experience on my first two kit wines I'm ready to go
again. This time I'd like to get 2-3 different red wines, bottle up 2-3
gallons of each and then experiment with the remainder by blending with some
from the other(s). Some blends seem a natural - Cabernet/syrah, etc.

Here's my question: Any recommendations on which wines to try and ratios to
blend? Any success stories to share?

TIA.

John

Dave,

That's a good tip --- to experiment in ounces rather than gallons. I should
have thought of that!

My primary source for wine kits stocks Ken Ridge and European Select, Bin
49 and Vinterra on the high end. There are other cheaper juices but I
thought I would stick with these since the advice I'm getting here is you
get what you pay for. Problem is, I'm not seeing cabernet franc or some
other grapes that I typically see used in blending.

Also, I appreciate the information about the Zin/Pinot. I think I'd read
somewhere to try that but I had never seen that done before and was suspect
of just how good it could be.

John


"Dave Allison" wrote in message
.. .
Well, I had a Shiraz that was kinda weak, so I put in 18% Cabernet and it
is a nice table wine.
I tried mixing Pinor Noir with Cab and it wasn't good to me.
Syrah is good with Cab. - I think I mixed 20% syrah to the cab.
Zinfandel and Pinot Noir I tried 30% Zin to the Pinot -- washed out the
Pinot - not good.
That's my experiences.
Have fun experimenting. Oh, and I experiment by mixing ounces, not
bottles, keeping track of the proportion. Like I'll have 4 glasses, each
with 2 ounces of one wine, then experiment by adding x ounces of another
wine. This saves wine. smile. DAve
What brand kits do you do? I"m mostly doing WinExpert - they seem a little
better than others. What do you think?
DAve

JB wrote:
OK. After a positive experience on my first two kit wines I'm ready to go
again. This time I'd like to get 2-3 different red wines, bottle up 2-3
gallons of each and then experiment with the remainder by blending with
some from the other(s). Some blends seem a natural - Cabernet/syrah, etc.

Here's my question: Any recommendations on which wines to try and ratios
to blend? Any success stories to share?

TIA.

John

As a noob who has been trying a variety of commercial pinot noirs to
try to get a feel for what it is, I wonder does anything mix well with
pinot noir without destroying its character? I think of it as being
quite a tricky wine to pin down and can't imagine it dominating many
blends.

Jim


On Aug 31, 9:54 pm, "JB" wrote:
Dave,

That's a good tip --- to experiment in ounces rather than gallons. I should
have thought of that!

My primary source for wine kits stocks Ken Ridge and European Select, Bin
49 and Vinterra on the high end. There are other cheaper juices but I
thought I would stick with these since the advice I'm getting here is you
get what you pay for. Problem is, I'm not seeing cabernet franc or some
other grapes that I typically see used in blending.

Also, I appreciate the information about the Zin/Pinot. I think I'd read
somewhere to try that but I had never seen that done before and was suspect
of just how good it could be.

John

"Dave Allison" wrote in message

.. .

Well, I had a Shiraz that was kinda weak, so I put in 18% Cabernet and it
is a nice table wine.
I tried mixing Pinor Noir with Cab and it wasn't good to me.
Syrah is good with Cab. - I think I mixed 20% syrah to the cab.
Zinfandel and Pinot Noir I tried 30% Zin to the Pinot -- washed out the
Pinot - not good.
That's my experiences.
Have fun experimenting. Oh, and I experiment by mixing ounces, not
bottles, keeping track of the proportion. Like I'll have 4 glasses, each
with 2 ounces of one wine, then experiment by adding x ounces of another
wine. This saves wine. smile. DAve
What brand kits do you do? I"m mostly doing WinExpert - they seem a little
better than others. What do you think?
DAve

JB wrote:
OK. After a positive experience on my first two kit wines I'm ready to go
again. This time I'd like to get 2-3 different red wines, bottle up 2-3
gallons of each and then experiment with the remainder by blending with
some from the other(s). Some blends seem a natural - Cabernet/syrah, etc.

Here's my question: Any recommendations on which wines to try and ratios
to blend? Any success stories to share?

TIA.

John

jim wrote:

As a noob who has been trying a variety of
commercial pinot noirs to try to get a feel for
what it is, I wonder does anything mix well with
pinot noir without destroying its character? I
think of it as being quite a tricky wine to pin
down and can't imagine it dominating many
blends.

Jim


On Aug 31, 9:54 pm, "JB"
wrote:
Dave,

That's a good tip --- to experiment in ounces
rather than gallons. I should have thought of
that!

My primary source for wine kits stocks Ken
Ridge and European Select, Bin
49 and Vinterra on the high end. There are
other cheaper juices but I thought I would
stick with these since the advice I'm getting
here is you get what you pay for. Problem is,
I'm not seeing cabernet franc or some other
grapes that I typically see used in blending.

Also, I appreciate the information about the
Zin/Pinot. I think I'd read somewhere to try
that but I had never seen that done before and
was suspect of just how good it could be.

John

"Dave Allison" wrote
in message


.. .

Well, I had a Shiraz that was kinda weak, so
I put in 18% Cabernet and it is a nice table
wine. I tried mixing Pinor Noir with Cab and
it wasn't good to me. Syrah is good with Cab.
- I think I mixed 20% syrah to the cab.
Zinfandel and Pinot Noir I tried 30% Zin to
the Pinot -- washed out the Pinot - not good.
That's my experiences. Have fun
experimenting. Oh, and I experiment by mixing
ounces, not bottles, keeping track of the
proportion. Like I'll have 4 glasses, each
with 2 ounces of one wine, then experiment by
adding x ounces of another wine. This saves
wine. smile. DAve What brand kits do you do?
I"m mostly doing WinExpert - they seem a
little better than others. What do you think?
DAve

JB wrote:
OK. After a positive experience on my first
two kit wines I'm ready to go again. This
time I'd like to get 2-3 different red
wines, bottle up 2-3 gallons of each and
then experiment with the remainder by
blending with some from the other(s). Some
blends seem a natural - Cabernet/syrah, etc.

Here's my question: Any recommendations on
which wines to try and ratios to blend? Any
success stories to share?

TIA.

John

I am far from an expert on Pinot Noir having drunk
very little but most of the ones I have drunk had
very little or no oak. The ones that did have
noticeable oak, tasted like an oaked Cabernet or
oaked Merlot.

If you blend one of the other traditional barrel
aged red wines with Pinot, you will probably bash
the fruitiness of the Pinot with oak.

I have made a Cabernet Franc / Merlot blend or
just a Merlot with no oak and aged in glass and
it resembled Pinot Noir more than the
traditionally made reds that are for the most
part barrel aged.

If you like Pinot but can't get the grapes you
might try making another red and aging in glass
or stainless. You might be surprised.

All of this is experience from grapes and not kits
so your mileage may vary.