Most homemade wine makers make wines which are perfect for everyday drinking but rarely consider making something like a sparkling wine. Sparkling wines are a great treat for events like parties and other special occasions. If you have avoided making sparkling wine in the past because you thought it might be too difficult think again, it’s really not that difficult at all.
While many people think of champagne as sparkling wine, champagne is actually made in the Champagne region of France.
In recent years, blending wines made from your homemade wine recipes has become an acceptable part of the winemaking process. Basically, blending is taking various wines and mixing them to make a wine that has a quality that is greater than each of the wines by themselves.
Most people think of blending as mixing two or more wines together and this is certainly the most popular form of blending. But some vineyards have begun planting multiple varieties of grapes together so that they have a blended field. You can achieve somewhat the same effect by harvesting grapes from two different areas and then putting them together in the fermenting process.
Sometimes, similar wines are blended that come from different vintages to hopefully expose the greatest aspects of each of the wines. If you have been making wines for any time you probably have similar wines that were produced in different years already stocked in your wine cellar.
Take note that some wines just don’t blend well. For some reason chardonnay’s rarely improve in the blending process. The same holds true for red zinfandel’s and pinot noirs. Finally, very delicate wines like gewrztraminers do not blend well either.
Along with helping to balance flavors, blending can also help adjust the levels of tannin’s and acids. Keep in mind that blending can really only help wines that are already pretty good wines on their own. Mixing a bad wine with one that is good generally means that the bad wine is not improved but rather the good wine is degraded.
It’s best to start with just two wines if your just starting out experimenting with the blending process. Blending will help you to pull the best characteristics from each of the wines and hopefully achieve a better flavor. Don’t let the process scare you away as blending is really not that complicated. Most home winemaker’s are able to create a good blend at home.
Blending is really a three step process that includes testing and then comparing the flavors. Finally, you test to find the ratio of wines that will provide the desired flavor in he final blend. Start with small amounts and then make small adjustments until you find the desired blend. Take notes and measurements so that you can re-create the blend in the future and in larger amounts.
You may also need to let the blend rest as you test so that the flavors have time to mix and give you the final flavor. This is especially true with young red wines as testing a young red blend too soon will not give you an accurate idea of what the final taste will be. Whites are different as they can usually be blended and tasted right away.
If you find that your favorite homemade wine recipes don’t quite produce the results you were hoping for, try blending. Remember, start with two wines that are pretty good to begin with. If the wine is bad, it’s bad so get rid of it. No amount of blending is going to fix a bad wine.
By David N. Hall
Making homemade wine has become popular again in recent years but in fact, people have been developing their own homemade wine recipes for hundreds of years. Many of today’s homemade wine recipes incorporate methods and ingredients used in the past as well as some of the improvements in techniques that have developed in recent years.
All of this has lead to many new variations in the wine making process. By adding or removing various steps and ingredients, wine recipes have changed over the years. Today, there are a myriad of variations of homemade wine recipes.
This new attitude towards wine making has lead us to use a wide variety of ingredients and hundreds of variations in our homemade wine recipes. All you need to do to create a new variation on an old favorite is use and existing recipe as a guide.
If you think of recipes as sort of a map and you take care to measure any variables then you will find yourself adjusting your ingredients to fit your tastes and desired outcome.
Choosing an alternative to the normal grapes you use is an easy variation and one that can yield some rather significant changes and unique characteristics to your recipe. Tempranillo, Graciano, Garacha and Malyasia are four different grapes that you can use to experiment with changing the flavor and color of your wine.
Tempranillo grapes will give your wine a rich, deep color and were first used during the Crusades. Graciano grapes are more commonly found in France and Garnacha is a red grape that is often used for blending of wines. The Malyasia grape is the most unique of the four being a white grape. There are still more varieties of grapes available but these four will help get you started.
Using different fruits in place of grapes is yet another possible variation in your homemade wine recipes. Many wine makers experiment with various fruits and berries and just about any type of fruit will work. Home wine makers will often use fruit that can be easily obtained locally.
The list of fruits and berries that have been used to make homemade wine is long and includes blackberries, strawberries, peaches, watermelon, plums, grapefruit, apricots, almonds, apples, pears, bananas, cranberries, dates, figs and even things like sweet potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.
Be aware that if the fruit you use has a very subtle flavor it may require you to use more fruit than you normally would. Adjust you recipe as required to get the desired amount of flavor. You can also try spiking the must with a more flavorful base by using things like kiwi fruit or pineapple chunks. Of course, this will change the character of the wine slightly. The main point here is by using your own creativity, you can find a lot of new, exciting possibilities in your homemade wine recipes.
David Hall is recognized as a leading expert on wine and wine making and author of ‘The Wine Connoisseur’ ebook and audio book. Discover even more homemade wine recipes and wine making secrets! Get instant access to his free mini-course at http://www.wine-handbook.com
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Homemade Wine Recipes 