Blending wine at home. Blending and calculation of blends. Preparation of blended wines

Blending (mixing several juices) is carried out when it is necessary to improve the taste of existing fruits: soften the harshness, reduce acidity, remove an unpleasant aftertaste, add aroma. For example, high extractivity (5-6%) of cherry, plum, rowan or blackcurrant juice can be brought back to normal (2-3%) by mixing them with low-extractivity ones.

And you can give lightly colored juice a beautiful color using thickly colored juice. Very often, water and always sugar are added to juice to reduce acidity.

When leveling acidity, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the titratable acidity should be slightly higher than the norm that the winemaker wants to achieve.

As noted above, when sugar and alcohol are added to fermented wine material, the acidity of the wort decreases due to an increase in volume, but the amount of acid remains the same. Normally, the acidity of strong and sweet wines should be 1.1-1.4%, and table wines - 0.8%-1%.

Each winemaker determines the composition of the blend in accordance with his taste and the availability of raw materials. You can prepare blended wine using one of the methods given below.

1st method. First, determine the number of fruits of one type or another needed to prepare the blend. They are then weighed, mixed and crushed. The juice is squeezed out of the pulp and its acid and sugar content is determined. If necessary, it is corrected by adding sugar, water and acid, and left to ferment.

At first glance, this method seems simple. However, it has two significant drawbacks. Firstly, the desired fruits do not always ripen at the same time. Secondly, fruits release juice differently, so a large amount of unsqueezed juice usually remains in the pulp. Of course, the pulp, before you begin to separate the juice, can be heated or allowed to ferment. But there is no guarantee that some fruits will not form mucus after this, and the juice from others will turn sour.

2nd method. The required amount of juice is squeezed out of the fruits separately. The amount of sugar and acid contained in the juice is also determined separately. Each juice is corrected and a wort is prepared from it, depending on what kind of wine they want to get: table, strong or sweet. Only after this all the worts are mixed and fermented.

The advantage of this method is obvious. You can use fruits that ripen at different times. The wort of one fruit can be added to the fermenting wort of another. Moreover, they can be combined even when vigorous fermentation comes to an end (but not after that).

As soon as fresh wort enters the already fermenting wort, vigorous fermentation resumes, and beneficial yeast vigorously suppresses harmful fungi, so new fermentation occurs more actively and at a faster pace. There is no need to add additional yeast.

In table 10 shows the recipe for making wort from various juices.

3rd method. Unlike previous methods, in this case it is not juices and musts that are mixed, but ready-made wines.

Its main drawback is that some wines mix very poorly with each other: their tastes are not harmonized for a long time, but sound separately. To obtain the desired bouquet, such wines require long aging - from 3 to 5 years. Below are examples of blending finished wine materials.

When making blended wine using the 3rd method, the wine materials must first not only be removed from the sediment, but also filtered through a funnel lined with several layers of gauze and cotton wool. A cotton-gauze filter is necessary to ensure that the wine flows through the funnel slowly and all impurities remain on the filter. After blending, the wine is left to settle and after 2 weeks is removed from the sediment again. Only after this is it bottled and sealed.

The winemaker selects the composition of the blended wine independently. To do this, the finished wine materials are pre-mixed in small quantities (for example, 100 ml) and various combinations, tasted, noting the most successful combinations.

Blending

Blend, blending- this is the bringing together of starting products (materials) and flavoring (or food) additives, taken in a certain ratio. Used in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. We can talk about a blend of wine - from wine materials of different origins, tea - when obtaining commercial tea as a mixture of teas from different batches, honey, and similar cases. Blending, as such, has nothing to do with deliberate falsification, dilution or spoilage of a quality product. In contrast, blending is often a necessary technological step, for example in the production of Champagne.

Wine blending produced not only to obtain blended wines and to improve taste, but also to ensure its typicality: the uniformity of wines from grape harvests of different years and compliance with specified indicators (level of alcohol, sugar, acidity, etc.). A blend can consist of several groups of (wine) materials: main wine materials (from 50% to 100%), additional wine materials obtained from rare grape varieties; blending materials: canned or alcoholized wort; and basic materials: alcohol, vacuum wort.

Honey blending -

mixing two or three botanical varieties of honey to improve its presentation, taste and aroma. This complex procedure is carried out only with mature natural unspoiled liquid honey. Before carrying out K-m of a large batch, the original honeys should be mixed in certain proportions in a small volume. If the honey, after thorough mixing, turns out to have a good aroma and taste, proceed to honey production in a large batch. The honey is thoroughly mixed by hand or with mechanical mixers and allowed to settle, after which the foam is removed from its surface. Crystallized honey is carefully heated in a water bath at a temperature not exceeding 50 ° C until the crystals are completely melted. Honeys with a pleasant floral aroma, delicate taste and good presentation do not need blending. Products with a weak odor, a watery syrupy consistency, and a strong taste are mixed with more aromatic and delicate-tasting honeys. “Dictionary-reference book on beekeeping”, A.I. Cherkasova, I.K. Davydenko et al., Kyiv, “Harvest”, 1991.

The process of mixing wine materials from different grape varieties, from different regions, different grape harvest years and different types (white with red, fortified with dry) is called blending, and the resulting mixture is called a blend. The purpose of blending is to create large, homogeneous batches of typical, harmoniously composed and quality wines, and for vintage wines, to preserve their organoleptic properties every year, regardless of the meteorological conditions of grape ripening.

Wine materials and materials included in blends are divided into groups:

main wine materials (the basis of the blend). Their specific gravity in the blend ranges from 50 to 100%;

additional wine materials. They are prepared from scarce and very valuable grape varieties or using special technology;

blending materials (canned or alcoholized wort);

basic materials (alcohol, vacuum wort).

Based on the varietal and age composition of the main wine materials, they distinguish between varietal-annual, intervarietal-annual, varietal-interannual and intervarietal-interannual types of blends.

To prepare varietal-annual blends, wine materials from grapes of the same variety and one harvest year are mixed. Such blends are prepared from grape varieties that produce harmoniously composed wines, called varietal wines, for example Riesling, Aligote, Silvaner, Cabernet, Saperavi.

To prepare varietal-interannual blends, wine materials from the same variety from different harvest years are mixed. These wines include table wines Riesling Abrau and Cabernet Abrau.

To prepare intervarietal annual blends, wine materials from different grape varieties, mutually complementary, and the same vintage are mixed. Such wines are called intervarietal. These include: table white Nisporenskoye from the Muller-Thurgau varieties - 75-80%, white Traminer or Sauvignon - 20-25%; red table Codru from Cabernet Sauvignon - 75% and Merlot - 25%; Madeira Massandra from Sercial varieties - 60-70%, Verdelho - 20% and Albillo - 10%.

To prepare intervarietal/interannual blends, wine materials from different grape varieties from different harvest years are mixed. Such blends are used to prepare intervarietal wines and Soviet champagne.

To preserve the flavor mark over the years, interannual blends are used. Blend compositions for each item are developed on a scientific basis, taking into account the practical experience of enterprises, and compliance with them is mandatory.

The blending process consists of the selection of wine materials for blending, trial blending, and production blending.

For the blend, wine materials are selected that complement each other in the desired direction.

Blending corrects the color, bouquet, taste, typicality and condition of the main wine materials. In accordance with the set goal, wine materials are selected to enhance the bouquet, more aromatic ones, and more extractive ones to increase the extract.

Test blends are performed in small volumes in several variants. For example, to prepare Negru de Purcari wine, the options shown in table are used. eleven.

The best version of the trial blend is selected by the factory tasting commission.

Based on the test blend data, a blending list for the production blend is compiled. The blending statement indicates the names of the wine materials included in the blend, the place of their storage, the name of the container, the container number and quantity (in dal).

Production blends are performed in large tanks equipped with vinometer glasses, mechanical stirrers and sample taps located in three levels for sampling (Fig. 23).

Rice. 23. Enameled vertical blending apparatus with a capacity of 5 thousand dal with four mixers from the Poltava plant "Khimmash": a - hatch; b - stirrer

For more complete and rapid mixing, wine materials, blending and base materials are pumped into the blending container in accordance with their density, starting with the lowest. The alcohol in the blend is introduced last into the lower part of the container.

The blends are analyzed and when the desired results are obtained they are considered ready for processing. Blends are prepared with a blending sheet.

Blending calculations

Blends are calculated for the preparation of wine materials with specified conditions. Below is a method for calculating blends with two indicators and three or more materials.

In dry wine materials, the indicators include alcohol and titratable acidity, in semi-dry, semi-sweet and fortified wines - alcohol and sugar.

To calculate blends with two indicators and with three or more materials, a system of equations is drawn up according to the number of components and volume:

x 1 V 1 + x 2 V 2 + ... + x P V P = x 0 V 0 ;

y 1 V 1 + y 2 V 2 + ... + y P V P = y 0 V 0;

V 1 + V 2 + ... + V P = V 0

Example. It is necessary to prepare 1000 dal of blend for white port with an alcohol content of 18.6% vol. and sugar 7.1 g/100 cm 3 . How much is required for a blend of fortified wine material with an alcohol content of 18.0% vol. and sugar 14 g/100 cm 3, dry wine material with an alcohol content of 10% vol. and sugar 0.2 g/100 cm 3 and alcohol with a strength of 96% vol.?

Symbols and their meanings are given in table. 12.

Calculation. 18 V 1 + 10 V 2 + 96 V 3 = 18.6 ⋅ 1000; 14 V 1 + 0.2 V 2 = 7.1 ⋅ 1000; V 1 + V 2 + V 3 ⋅ 0.923 = 1000.

From the third equation, V 3 = 1083.424 - 1.083 V 1 - 1.083 V 2.

We substitute the found value of V 1 into the second equation and find V 2 = 450.79 dal. From the third equation we find the value V 3 = 52.55 dal v. With. and 52.55 - 96/100 = 50.45 gave b. With. We determine V K = 50.45 ⋅ 0.08 = 4.0 dal.

Examination. By volume 500.7 + 450.8 + 52.6 - 4.0 = 1000.1 dal. Deviations in volume are allowed by ±0.2 dal due to rounding of numbers.

y 0 = 14 ⋅ 500.7 + 0.2 ⋅ 450.8/1000 = 7.099 = 7.1 g/100 cm 3 .

Deviations in alcohol and sugar content are allowed respectively ±0.04% vol. and ±0.04 g/100 cm 3 .

Example. It is necessary to prepare a blend with an alcohol content of 16.3% vol. and sugar 16.1 g/100 cm 3 . The blend includes fortified wine materials: 1515 dal with an alcohol content of 16.2% vol. and sugar 16 g/100 cm 3; 1490 gave 16% vol. and 15 g/100 cm 3 ; 1500 gave 16.5% vol. and 15.3 g/100 cm 3 ; vacuum wort with a sugar content of 80 g/100 cm 3 and alcohol with a strength of 96.0% vol. It is necessary to determine the volume of vacuum wort, alcohol and blend.

Calculation. We combine fortified wine materials, determine their volume and condition.

1515 + 1490 + 1500 = 4505 dal;

x 0 = 16.2 ⋅ 1516 + 16.0 ⋅ 1490 + 16.5 ⋅ 1500/4505 = 16.2% vol.;

y 0 = 16 ⋅ 1515 + 15 ⋅ 1490 + 15.3 ⋅ 1500 = 15.4 g/100 cm 3 ;

The blend includes 4505 dal of fortified wine material with an alcohol content of 16.2% vol. and sugar 15.4 g/100 cm 3, vacuum wort and alcohol.

Let us denote the fortified wine material as 1, the vacuum wort as 2, the alcohol as 3 and the blend as 0.

Let's create a system of equations:

16.2 ⋅ 4505 + 96V 3 = 16.3 V 0

15.4 ⋅ 4505 + 801/2 = 16.1 V 0

4505 + V 2 + V 3 ⋅ 0.923 = V 0.

We substitute the Vo value from the third equation into the first and second equations and get two equations. Define V 3:

V K = 15.610 ⋅ 0.08 = 1.25 dal, we take 1.3 dal. From the first equation we determine the volume of the blend V 0 = 4573.1 dal. From the third equation V 2 = 53.1 dal.

For the blend, 53.1 dal of vacuum wort and 16.3 dal of alcohol will be required and 4573.1 dal of blend will be obtained.

Examination. By volume 4505 + 53.1 + 16.3 - 1.3 = 4573.1 dal. By alcohol content x 0 = 16.2 ⋅ 4505 + 96 ⋅ 16.3: 4573.1 = 16.3% vol. According to the sugar content, 0 = 15.4 ⋅ 4505 + 80 ⋅ 53.1: 4573.1 = 16.1 g/100 cm 3.

A mixture of several grape varieties, as a rule, has a much more diverse flavor and aromatic complex.
When several varieties are mixed, the winemaker can control the sound of the future drink.

About the blend.

Blend – a mixture of several grape varieties. Used in winemaking to enhance the taste, texture and aroma of wine.
The main goal of blending is to combine the various qualities of several varieties and balance them among themselves.
Almost all red and white grape varieties can be used for blending. There is a practice of mixing not only white varieties with white, and red with red, but also white varieties with red.
The most famous example of such a blend is considered to be Côte-Rôtie from the valley of the French Rhone River. To produce this wine, the red Syrah variety and the white Viognier variety are mixed.

Some of the blends came from time immemorial and were passed down from generation to generation.
Others were the result of creative experiments, the purpose of which was to search for new tastes and aromas. Those that were not on the market.

Vintage wine blends.
This term refers to a combination of several grape varieties that are harvested during the same year. For example, if one drink contains Cabernet and Merlot from the same year. Or a whole set of 13 varieties, all of which belong to the same year (I mean Chateauneuf du Pape).

Non-vintage blends.

Some wines (such as ports and champagnes) are created from harvests from different years. The main task of winemakers is the balance of aromas, tannins and other taste characteristics. Such blends are usually marked with the letters NV (non-vintage), in addition, such drinks do not have markings indicating the year of harvest.
As mentioned above, this practice is typical for producers of sparkling wines and ports, but this technique is also not neglected when creating still wines.

Blends of different grape varieties

Supertuscany
The term “super tuscans” originated in the 1970s, when Italian winemakers decided to create a new type of red wine, but were faced with strict government regulations that prevented their new drinks from being DOCG-rated.
This did not stop manufacturers. They collected into a single blend varieties that were not included in any state standard:
-) Cabernet Sauvignon
-) Cabernet Franc
-) Sangiovese
-) Syrah
-) Merlot
-) Petit Verdot

The result is a blend (and therefore drinks) of the highest quality with exceptional characteristics; but here’s the problem - Super Tuscan wines could be classified only as the most ordinary table wines, since the Italian “GOST” standards could not imagine such an improvisation.
The regulatory situation did not change for a long time: new blends received the status of table wines, but their characteristics were superior to most wines in the DOC and DOCG categories.
The problem was partially resolved with the introduction of the IGT (“local wines”) category, and in the first decade, individual “Super Tuscan” producers finally began to receive DOC and DOCG categories for their wines.

Blend “Bordeaux”
In France, only wine that contains combinations of the following grape varieties in varying proportions has the right to bear the name Bordeaux:
-) Cabernet Sauvignon,
-) Merlot,
-) Malbec,
-) Petit Verdot,
-) Carménère,
-) Cabernet Franc.
If any other variety is used in production, the blend cannot be called Bordeaux.
As a rule, winemakers choose two or three varieties. Very rarely (almost never) all six are included in a blend.
If a blend of the varieties listed above is made outside the province of Bordeaux, then it is called “Meritage”.
Blend “Meritage”
The term itself is a derivative of two English words: merit (merit) and heritage (heritage). The word appeared as a result of the creativity of American wine marketers, who thus formed an entire category of wines, not inferior in quality to Bordeaux.
Meritage comes from US vineyards. The requirements are very strict:
1) the manufacturer has the right to produce no more than 25,000 cases of this blend;
2) the wine must be the best drink of the manufacturer;
3) the producer must obtain permission from the Association of Meritage Wine Producers to use the term on the label.
Once again, a Meritage blend is a classic French recipe prepared in an American wine kitchen.
Rhône-Style Blends

French “Rhône blends” can combine up to 15 grape varieties. In addition, both white and red varieties can be mixed in this type of blend.
The blends are based on Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Viognier varieties.
The region is divided into subregions, which have their own blends. So Rhone type blends include:
-) Châteauneuf-du-Pape – a blend based on the Grenache variety, with a whole bunch of other varieties;
-) Côtes du Rhône – wines whose characteristic feature is a combination of white and red varieties.
-) Côte-Rôtie – a mixture of aromatic Viognier and spicy Syrah.

Naturally, the list does not exhaust everything that winemakers have come up with or can come up with. Producers in the New World are especially prone to experimentation: they try new combinations of varieties in combination with the most advanced technologies.

In a word, if you are in a decent wine store and you want intrigue, contact a consultant (necessarily a good one), and let him surprise you.

Blending, technological operation of wine production, consisting of mixing various wine materials in certain proportions, often with the introduction of additional components (ethyl alcohol, vacuum wort, bekmes and etc.). Blending is carried out to obtain blended wines, ensuring the typicality of wine, improving its taste and bouquet, producing wine materials and wines that are uniform in their organoleptic qualities from grape harvests of different years, ensuring the necessary conditions of wine in terms of certain indicators of chemical composition or physical substances, eliminating the consequences of diseases and defects, wine rejuvenation etc. More often, blending is carried out to ensure the specified wine conditions in terms of alcohol, sugar, acidity and other indicators. The amount of individual materials with known composition indicators is preliminarily calculated to obtain a finished blend with the required conditions.

By solving standard problems using the algebraic method for the blends most often encountered in practice, it is possible to create calculation formulas convenient for calculating the number of individual components of such blends. Graphic calculation of a blend is based on constructing diagrams of the composition of individual materials introduced into the blend mixture and the finished blend. The starting materials and blend are depicted as points on a plane in the coordinate system of two calculated indicators. Then additional constructions are carried out on these diagrams to determine the volumes of each of the materials in the composition of a given blend.

Diagram for graphically solving the composition of blends from three blending materials (see figure). For example, given: wine material A with a strength of 8% vol. and acidity 10 g/dm 3, wine material B with a strength of 9% vol. and acidity 7 g/dm 3, wine material With a strength of 13% vol. and acidity 6 g/dm3. It is required to obtain a blend with a strength of 10% vol. and acidity 8 g/dm 3 in an amount of 5000 dal. To solve, a composition diagram is constructed, for which the alcohol concentration a is plotted along the abscissa, and the titratable acidity K is plotted along the ordinate. A straight line is drawn through the blending point x and one of the material points (for example, A) until it intersects with a segment connecting 2 other points of materials B and C. The point of intersection of two straight lines is an auxiliary point characterizing the composition of some intermediate mixture. By measuring the segments on the diagram, you get the following. the magnitude of their ratios: for material A: ax/Aa = 14.5/31.5 = 0.46; for material B: (аС/ВС) ¦ (Ах/Аа) = (8.5/25) (17/31.5) = 0.18; for material C: (aB/BC) (Ax/Aa) = (16.5/25) (17/31.5) = 0.36.

Using the obtained quantitative ratios of individual wine materials, we calculate their volumes (in dal): material A = 0.46 5000 = 2300; material B = 0.18 5000 = 900; material C = 0.36 5000 = 1800. In cognac production, before blending, the volumes of cognac spirits, sugar syrup and alcoholized waters are calculated. The individual materials that make up cognac blends differ greatly in their strength, and the alcohol concentration in the finished blend is quite high. Therefore, the calculations take into account contraction based on the alcohol content in cognac and its components.

Before production blending, several variants of trial blends are made to correctly select wine materials and determine the quality of the resulting mixture. All wine materials are subjected to chemical and microbiological analysis and tested. Test blends are prepared in various variants (combinations), usually in glass cylinders with a capacity of 1 liter. After mixing, the test blends are left alone for several days. Then they carry out a comprehensive organoleptic assessment and select the most successful option, which is used in production. Industrial blending is carried out in large mixing tanks (blenders) equipped with stirrers. Mixing is carried out thoroughly until a uniform distribution of the blend components is achieved throughout the entire volume. Special mixers are also used to ensure mixing of components in a stream. The disadvantage of such mixers is the inaccurate dosing of individual components if they differ greatly in density and viscosity. To speed up the clarification of blends, they are filtered and treated with clarifying materials, which are often introduced during the blending process. The composition and quality of the resulting blend is controlled by chemical analysis and organoleptic assessments. Special cases of blending include assemblage and egalization of wine materials.

Literature: Laboratory workshop on the course “Wine Technology” - Moscow, 2001; Kishkovsky Z.N., Merzhanian A.A. Wine technology. - Moscow, 1994.