This also eliminates "Odd Lots" - the leftovers
after blending if you blend individual wines and
do not use all the wines in your blend.

Ray, however, did bring up a good point - not all
varieties ripen at the same time. For me, Merlot
ripens about one ferment before Cabernet Franc
and Cabernet Sauvignon ripens about one ferment
after Cabernet Franc. By "One ferment" I mean
about 10 to 14 days difference and this is the
usual amount of time I do primary fermentation.

This works out well for me as I can ferment
seperately and do not have to have multiple
primary fermenters going on at the same time.

A lot of commercial winemaking decisions are based
not only on taste but also on "Logistics"


gene wrote:

> Once you have experience with particular
> vineyard's grapes, you can
> reasonably well anticipate how they go together.
> Some commercial wineries blend grapes before
> fermentation on certain varietals which are
> known to complement one another year after year.
>
> Gene
>
>
>
> Mike McGeough wrote:
>
>
>> John,
>>
>> I agree with all the above, especially the
>> diminishing importance of yeast choice, but let
>> me add:
>>
>> Although we can more precisely "engineer" a
>> blend after the component wines are fermented,
>> I prefer not to. My personal experience has
>> been to
>> harvest my four red varieties as they ripen,
>> and ferment them all
>> together. Ditto the two whites I blend. Partly
>> out of expedience, partly
>> in the belief that the conpenents "marry"
>> better, and partly in the
>> romance of annual variations in the vintage.
>> Essentially my blends are field blends, but I
>> will hold back on a variety if it's too
>> bountiful for my style, or draw off some juice
>> as a Saignee. Does it make a technicaly better
>> wine? Probably not, but it keeps me from
>> overthinking the process, and I look foward to
>> the differences each year brings.
>>
>> I might add that I've adjusted the number of
>> each variety, and the size of each's crop to
>> hit a certain balance. This process continues
>> still, as I plan on increasing my Cab S.
>> plantings.
>>
>> Both ways work, but the safer way is to blend
>> after fermenting, unless you have a prior model
>> to follow.
>>
>> HTH
>>
>>
>>