thanks all for the advice. I'm pulling the cork on 29 bottles and
putting in a carboy, doing the blending, waiting to see if it hazes and
then rebottling when clear.

What a great group of experience. thanks. DAve

Joe Sallustio wrote:
>>>> p.s. Not sure I'll do another VdV kit, my wine store mentioned many make
>>>> it to a 5 gallon carboy. So many think this is a weak kit? just asking.
>
> I'm making my first kit Chardonnay right now from Spagnols, this is a
> Grand Cru Kit. I don't think much of this so far. Time will tell. I
> added some acid because I tested it and just knew it would be flabby to
> me. (The pH was low, TA very low.) Anyway I obviously decided to
> 'semi' follow the instructions... I did not make this at 6 gallons, I
> added water to 1.090 SG; that was roughly 5.5 gallons. I think it's
> very dark for a young wine but lets see where it ends up. I did add
> the bentonite at first like they state, I assumed that was partially
> for the color issue I might have.
>
> To answer your real question, I blend Syrah and Cab almost every year.
> My source is Regina Juice for the most part so it might be slightly
> higher in quality than yours but I think they would compare well; they
> are both average quality at best. I'm bottling last years (2005) now,
> literally. I usually taste them all, blend a few, test the acids, mess
> around a bit more. I seem to like reds at a TA of 5 -5.5.
>
> I just bottled one batch at; 5 gallons 2005 cab from juice, 5 gallons
> 2005 Syrah from grapes and 2 gallons 2004 'mostly cab' from juice.
> What I doing now is 10 gallons 2005 Syrah from juice with 5 gallons Cab
> from juice.
>
> You may want to consider buying a Cab box wine, adding some oak and
> making a few bottles blended at different ratios from it. You could
> get your proportions where you want them that way. Most California box
> wines are not that well oaked; the NZ or Auswines are better at that.
> You could also try the 'oak tea' idea to get some oak into it quickly
> too.
>
> Joe
>