We bottled our 2009 Magnafique Bordeaux Blend tonight. It took a record 6 blending trials before the group decided on the blend, which ended up being:
75% Idaho Cabernet
10% Cabernet Franc
10% Malbec
5% Merlot
We tried lots of combinations without any clear favorites until the very end. We tried blends without any merlot and blends without any malbec, but we liked the complexity of having them both in the blend. Actually we would have liked to have more merlot in the blend but this year's merlot didn't blend as well.
We did taste the fined merlot vs the unfined merlot and the difference was amazing. The merlot that had been fined with egg whites was much smoother with less bitter tannins more fruit. We racked the remaining merlot off the egg whites, combined the unfined and fined wine and added 2 more egg whites. We will let that sit for 2 weeks and then do a Boisique Blending Trial on Oct 13 or 14, followed by bottling.
We've heard that WA is picking merlot in the next few days. We expect Idaho is a week or 2 behind that. We are thinking the ID Viognier will be ready in the next week, followed by the WA Syrah then the ID Tempranillo, ID Merlot and Malbec and then the ID Syrah. The WA Cabernet will be the last grape sometime around Oct 20-24. It is going to be a very busy October!
We will have to get a plan together about winery coverage because several members will be out in late October: Troy, Ray and Mike will all be out the week of Oct 18th.
Photos from the last few activities are uploaded to Picasa (at the end of the Wine2010 album).
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