Sometimes in the winemaking process you are given a challenge that can be fun, thought provoking, refreshing, and sometimes very rewarding. A few months ago, Andrew and I were told that we needed to come up with a white wine blend, and I believe it is the first white blend created at Roche Winery in many years (if not the first). Blending is fun, and endless combinations are possible, but it is the open mind plus prior tasting knowledge that helps put it all together. What did we do and how did we create the first “La Nina” white wine blend?

The first thing we did was search for available wines, looking at our cellar to wine-based classifieds to wine brokers I have known for 30 years. Once we find what is available on a small scale (we planned to make 400 cases which is not a lot!) We get samples of the wines we think would be interesting in a blend. There are a lot of the basic wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay available, and they would be a good piece of the blend if we like them, but we wanted something more unique. We found samples of Marsanne and Roussanne, Viognier, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, and Gewurztraminer. After tasting through the samples, some of which were terrible, we found that we liked only a few, those being Chardonnay, Viognier, and the Gewurztraminer, and that spurred some thoughts about blending.

Chardonnay is, of course, the most common of the three and isn’t as showy as the other two, so it can be a good base to start with, contributing apple and citrus flavors and aromas. Viognier can be very overbearing in that it tends to have high alcohol as well as very peach/apricot/floral, just perfumy in general. Gewurztraminer tends to have intense aromas of lychee and rose, lower in alcohol, and as the name translates to – spice! All three wines are unique and can contribute different characters, and the fun then begins with blending trials.

The first part of blending is just coming up with an idea of your blend based on each wine’s profile. Andrew and I made up our own secret blend recipes on paper, then we make those actual trial blends. The first blends we came up with were very heavy on the Gewurztraminer and Viognier, and although our blends were different, we both realized we went too heavy on those. Too much Viognier and the wine was too thick and overbearing, and too hot (alcoholic). Too much Gewurztraminer and the wine got thin from the lower alcohol level. Flavors and aromas were interesting no matter what, but we realized that the mouthfeel and texture were very important when working with these varietals. We then started collaborating on the next trial blend and found we liked the blend when we backed off the amount of Gewurztraminer and made the Viognier more dominant. We knew we were heading in the right direction so now we made several small variations of the previous blend, talking 5% difference of this or that, until we found what we liked the most. 40% Chardonnay, 45% Viognier, 15% Gewurztraminer. Fruity, vibrant, rich and mouth filling!

Yes, blending is a lot of fun and particularly when you have an open mind!