"Gratitude is the wine of the soul."

Rumi

So, after a nine month gestation period I am delivering the last chapter of this book. It is time to say thank you. To my wife Heidi who initially and persistently encouraged me to write it. To my best and oldest friend Mike Richmond who introduced me to winemaking many decades ago - one could not ask for a better mentor. To Alyson Kuhn who offered the first professional advice on my earliest attempts and ended up acting as my copy editor through the process - this book was immensely improved under her guidance. To all the hundreds of people I’ve worked with over the vintages, thank you! The respect of my peers was what I always valued most. And last but not least to the hundreds of thousands of strangers that have drunk the wine I’ve made over the years - thanks for letting me bring a little pleasure into your lives.

Chapter 20: Blending and Elevage

Blending and length of barrel aging

Blending is the deepest of the winemaking arts. This skill can only be fully developed after many years of effort. Wielded correctly, this tool can dramatically improve the balance and overall quality of a vintage. An amount of time commensurate with its value should be devoted to blending in each vintage. The process begins by discerning the character of each lot of wine. This requires multiple tastings during the early months as the wine approaches relative flavor stability. Because young wine in barrel is strongly dynamic, with often abrupt changes in character, I must emphasize the relative aspect of this flavor stability. For most wines, this early stable flavor set point occurs within four to six months of the harvest.

No general recommendation can be of use regarding how long a wine should remain in barrel, because the structure of the specific wine must be taken into account. A wine with a low pH will age more slowly, for example, and the converse is equally true: Wines with greater amounts of phenolic extract will develop more slowly than lighter bodied wines.[1] Wine kept in cooler cellars ages more slowly. Wines with extravagant levels of fruit aromatics will tolerate longer barreling without diminishment. It is incumbent on the winemaker to taste frequently and attentively within each vintage in order to make an informed decision in this regard.

Concerning the timing of blending, it is easier to be less ambiguous and more prescriptive. Earlier blending is almost always better. Two benefits accrue from this. The first has to do with stability. Imagine that you have 20 separate lots of red wine in your cellar. All of them have finished their ferments and been sulfited, and each one is stable individually. However, when you combine the 20 lots into one blend, it will not necessarily be stable, as the sum does not take on all the characteristics of its parts. Many of the parameters that controlled the stability of the parts will change in the final blend. This is particularly true for microbial stability. It is not unusual for a freshly constructed blend to show renewed yeast or bacterial activity. Alcohol level, pH, nutrient status, and the exact mix of low levels of residual sugars can all change upon blending. For this reason alone, it is good practice to put your red blends together at least 6–8 weeks prior to bottling. Earlier blending also makes the final filtration and stabilization of the wine much easier and lessens the chance of early solids deposits in the bottle. The second major benefit has to do with aroma development. Aroma is specific to an individual wine. Prior to blending, each separate lot has developed aromas specific to its conditions. After blending, aroma development must start anew, basically from the beginning. And the process of aroma development is s-l-o-w. In reds, it may take 12 months and often much longer.[2] The earlier the blend can be made, the sooner this process can begin. Obviously, with a wine planned for early release after bottling, and thereafter for early consumption, blending must be pushed to the earliest possible moment. In my experience, blend decisions can be accurately made 60 days or so after the wines have been sulfited. In most cellars this means 3–4 months post-harvest.