Cousin Blending Trials

The group met tonight to decide on a blend for our Cousins blend of Petite Sirah and Syrah.

 

The Petite Sirah alone is very fruity, but doesn't have much body, finish or nose.  The Syrah alone is thin, doesn't have much fruit, but has a nice nose and finish.  Combined they are the best of both: A nice nose, good fruit, a nice mouth feel and finish.  It's not an overly complicated wine, just a nice pleasant red wine that you want to drink.  It should drink very well young (our favorite kind!).

 

Earlier pre-blending trials had pointed us to 50/50 blend or better, heavier on the Petite Sirah side.  We tried various blends ranging from equal parts to 70% Petite Sirah.  With the 70/30 we lost the Syrah and  50/50 had the most Syrah flavor.  We ended up with 55% Petite Sirah and 45% Syrah.  We will bottle the Cousins on Monday at 6pm, washing bottles at noon.

 

We tried the Merlot, which we fined with egg whites a week ago.  Much of the astringency is gone and the wine is much improved.  It needs another week to settle out and then we'll do blending trials for the Bordeaux Blend (Magnafique) and Boisique.  We plan to do those trials on Thursday the 30th at 5pm and then bottle afterwards (again, washing bottles prior on Wednesday or Thursday at noon-TBD).

 

We have 25G of Petite Sirah.  That means we'll get 45.45G of Cousins, or 227 bottles (about 19 cases total-- 3.8 cases each).

 

2009 Cousins

20.45 G of Syrah

25.0 G of Petite Sirah

 

After bottling Cousins, we will have about 10G of Syrah left.  We'll blend it into some "Encore" with some Malbec, after we bottle the Magnafique and Boisique.