Hi there,

I'm looking for some advice to help me blend some wines that I have waiting
to be bottled. I have 5 gallons of crabapple and 1 gallon of banana that
have both been aging in their respective carboys for about 9 months. The
last time I had a taste of either, neither of them were particularly
delicious. The crabapple seemed very acidic, and I don't know how to
describe the banana.

I am by no means a wine expert, and have very little knowledge about
blending or achieving desired levels of body or dryness or acidity. I am
wondering if anyone out there has blended these 2 particular wines, and if
so what ratios did you use?

I am contemplating just mixing them 5:1 crabapple:banana as that's what I
have available, and figure it will help add body to the crabapple wine
without altering its flavor too much. I would probably sweeten it somewhat
if it is still as acidic as the last time I tasted it.

Any advice or info on blending these 2 would be much appreciated.

TIA

Simon.

Simon,
I don't have any experience blending these wines, but I will give you
my basic blending method. I take a graduated cylinder (100ml) and I add
proportional amounts of each wine and put that into a glass which I label.
For example I would add 75 ml of Apple and 25 ml of Banana to get a 3:1
ratio. I then conduct a tasting and we choose the wine we like best. I then
extrapolate this amount over into either bottle or carboy amounts to achieve
the ratios.
I also use a similar method for determining sweetness. Let's say I
start with 80ml of wine, add 20 ml of sugar syrup and achieve the sweetness
I desire. I can take a specific gravity and know exactly how sweet we want
to make the wine. You can also just take the 20 ml and multiply it by your
volume such as 7.5 for a 750 ml bottle to add this amount to each bottle.
( I use a plastic syringe to add the wine to the cylinder, or sometimes
individual bottles for small batches) HTH
John Dixon
"

Sounds like it is time for a wine testing party. Invite a friend (a good
friend) over and do samples. Decide what is best. Your friend will leave
warm and fuzzy and feeling good that you would ask him and then you can do
what every you like. I understand some wineries do this. Invite guests in
and have them pick the best blend. Then, after the guests leave, they just
dump them in using the ratio of the amount of wine they have. Great fun
though!

Ray

"Simon96Taco" > wrote in message
news:vCcsc.571609$oR5.363093@pd7tw3no...
> Hi there,
>
> I'm looking for some advice to help me blend some wines that I have
waiting
> to be bottled. I have 5 gallons of crabapple and 1 gallon of banana that
> have both been aging in their respective carboys for about 9 months. The
> last time I had a taste of either, neither of them were particularly
> delicious. The crabapple seemed very acidic, and I don't know how to
> describe the banana.
>
> I am by no means a wine expert, and have very little knowledge about
> blending or achieving desired levels of body or dryness or acidity. I am
> wondering if anyone out there has blended these 2 particular wines, and if
> so what ratios did you use?
>
> I am contemplating just mixing them 5:1 crabapple:banana as that's what I
> have available, and figure it will help add body to the crabapple wine
> without altering its flavor too much. I would probably sweeten it
somewhat
> if it is still as acidic as the last time I tasted it.
>
> Any advice or info on blending these 2 would be much appreciated.
>
> TIA
>
> Simon.
>
>

Excellent advice from both of you, thanks so much ; )

Simon.


"Ray" > wrote in message
. ..
> Sounds like it is time for a wine testing party. Invite a friend (a good
> friend) over and do samples. Decide what is best. Your friend will leave
> warm and fuzzy and feeling good that you would ask him and then you can do
> what every you like. I understand some wineries do this. Invite guests
in
> and have them pick the best blend. Then, after the guests leave, they
just
> dump them in using the ratio of the amount of wine they have. Great fun
> though!
>
> Ray
>
> "Simon96Taco" > wrote in message
> news:vCcsc.571609$oR5.363093@pd7tw3no...
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I'm looking for some advice to help me blend some wines that I have
> waiting
> > to be bottled. I have 5 gallons of crabapple and 1 gallon of banana
that
> > have both been aging in their respective carboys for about 9 months.
The
> > last time I had a taste of either, neither of them were particularly
> > delicious. The crabapple seemed very acidic, and I don't know how to
> > describe the banana.
> >
> > I am by no means a wine expert, and have very little knowledge about
> > blending or achieving desired levels of body or dryness or acidity. I
am
> > wondering if anyone out there has blended these 2 particular wines, and
if
> > so what ratios did you use?
> >
> > I am contemplating just mixing them 5:1 crabapple:banana as that's what
I
> > have available, and figure it will help add body to the crabapple wine
> > without altering its flavor too much. I would probably sweeten it
> somewhat
> > if it is still as acidic as the last time I tasted it.
> >
> > Any advice or info on blending these 2 would be much appreciated.
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > Simon.
> >
> >
>
>