Wine Blending Video - Part I

We've compiled two videos to give you a feel of what the blending and tasting experience was like last week. The Anderson Valley tasting/blending video is below. Watch out for the Doctor's Vineyard tasting/blending video next week.

If you can't see the video below, please click here to watch it (note that it sometimes takes up to 30 seconds to load after you press play - but we promise it is worth the wait).

The good news is that the intervention we had to take with the wine worked.  The smoky overtones are gone and there is now a very nice cranberry nose on the wine.  But, as a stand-alone, it is a very simple wine.

So, we spent about an hour trying out different clones and adding them in at different ratios to come up with a wine that we really love.  Our basic wine is 100% of the 115 clone.  In the end we blended in 10% of the 777 clone and 5% of the pommard clone.  This added both structure and greater fruit to the wine.  What we tasted at the end was exactly what we were shooting for with the Anderson Valley pinot - a lighter, more restrained and almost Burgundian wine.  We've very excited!

Next up is a couple more months in the barrel to let the new blend integrate fully.  Then we'll be back in late August to taste it again and see if any more blending is necessary.