Re: [Riverwoods Wineries] 2010 Boisique

Sorry--this sent before I was done.  Additional edits below.

 

Troy

The group met last night to decide our Boisique blend.  As always, it was an interesting blending event.  We ended up liking a blend of 85% Merlot and 15% Malbec the best, with the Merlot being a 50/50 blend of the ID Merlot and WA Merlot.

 

The ID Merlot added some surprising flavors of candied raspberries which was too strong by itself, but was a nice addition when blended in with the WA Merlot.  Ray thought the flavor could be dialed down a little bit more (ie: more WA Merlot than ID), and we tried reducing it by 50%, which was too much.

 

Looking at the gallons of merlot in the cellar, we have an 18G of ID merlot, plus 1+G in carboys and topping. So we have an easy option to try a slightly higher blend of WA Merlot (we would need to taste this first, the blend ratio is below), or we can hold the additional 11G of WA Merlot in Carboys for future blending. 

 

Given the good results of blending the ID + WA Merlot together for the Boisique we should probably do some quick blends of the ID and WA Syrah to see if we like that.  Blending multiple sources can often add complexity to the wine. We could consider doing 1 30G barrel of 100% WA Syrah and the second blended with ID and WA Syrah.  Something worth considering.

 

We are starting bottling the week of the 18th. Washing bottles mid-day on Monday the 19th and bottling the WA Syrah Wednesday evening Sept 21st. Repeating the following Mon and Wed for the Boisique.  We need 25 cases of non-shouldered bottles for the Syrah and 25 shouldered bottles for the Boisique.

 

We still have trial blending to do for a Bordeaux/Magnafique blend and an Encore.

 

Here is the blend with 50/50 ID/WA Merlot (3.75 cases each).

 

45G of Boisique

19G of ID Merlot   42.5%

19G of WA Merlot  42.5

6.75G of Malbec   15%

 

Here is the blend, using the full barrel of WA Merlot, (4.8 cases each).

 

57.5G of Boisique

19G of ID Merlot (33%)

30G of WA Merlot (52%)

8.5G of Malbec (15%)