We take you behind the scenes in Napa to learn about the art of wine blending.
A great pour at Vin Fraîche
It’s 10:15 a.m., and my teeth are purple. I’m in Napa Valley with winemaker Marc Gagnon; we’ve tried over 20 samples of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot for the various labels under Vin Fraîche Wine Group (vinfraiche.com)—Component Wine Co., SOM Wines and Gagnon-Kennedy Vineyards.
We’re preparing to concoct our first “accountant’s blend”—a term Gagnon uses for the base blend he negates to craft a balanced, finished wine. I watch as he seamlessly shifts between calculating percentages to measuring from the two dozen bottles and pipetting their scarlet hue into beakers and cylinders; a series that had my head spinning as I attempt to multitask myself between swirling, sipping, spitting and jotting down tasting notes.
Gagnon-Kennedy wine
“It’s practice, error, adjustment and learning,” says Gagnon, who once sampled 300 wines in a day while base blending. “You have to do it to get it.”
Base blending occurs after the wine has completed fermentation and has rested in barrels—the timing varies depending on harvest dates and varietals—but before final blending and bottling. As the Vin Fraîche portfolio comprises only single-variety wines, our process involves tasting through an array of partially aged wines from different vineyards or barrels, each of which Gagnon evaluates for the qualities they’ll bring to a blend, paying particular attention to outliers that may be too intense on their own but add character when blended. “The only way to see how flavors work is by doing it repeatedly—you can’t be taught that from a book,” says Gagnon.
Winemaker Marc Gagnon
We’re working with the 2022 vintage, so the wines have rested for over a year. We try each sample individually before Gagnon starts quantifying. Still, from watching him throughout the initial tasting round and factoring in his 15 years of experience, I know he already has an idea of the blend breakdown.
“Sometimes we can get it right off the bat,” says Gagnon. We experience this with the petit verdot, where the first combination—55% from Brannan vineyard and 45% from Seavey vineyard—results in a winner. The Seavey on its own isn’t spicy enough for Gagnon, but the Brannan mix amplifies it along with the “blackberry-briar character” he’s used to tasting in petit verdot. Petit verdot is typically used as a tool to add 1% or 2% to bring up the tannin and the wine viscosity to a blend, but this 100% petit verdot under Component Wine Co. showcases what the label is all about—using varieties that typically act as “components” to a wine, therefore a small percentage of a variety blend, to create a single expression.
Gagnon uses a beaker during the blending process.
I feel like a mad scientist moving from the single expressions to Gagnon-Kennedy Vineyards’ cuvee (majority cabernet sauvignon and adjusted by the leftover components). The first blend offers elegant red fruit, but the nose is muted; Gagnon points out that the finish falls flat. We create a sub-blend of two cabernet sauvignon samples that Gagnon thinks could bring more energy (acidity) to the cuvee.
Gagnon then recalculates the sum using the new sub-blend and returns to the cuvee. Mission accomplished. “The aromatics are correct,” says Gagnon of the chocolate and dark cherry notes now observable on the nose. The structure’s improved with richness and lingering tannins.
Gagnon works on countless calculations when blending.
And so the process continued for about four hours (we blended sauvignon blanc, semillon and rosé the day before that clocked just under three hours). The bases we create are racked, blended and rested for three more months until the final blending in April; bottling is in early summer.
It took less time than I imagined, but after witnessing Gagnon’s efficiency, I realize that’s a testament to his mastery as a winemaker.
Photography by: SUZANNE BECKER BRONK; JILLIAN DARA
