Natasha, our aspiring 11 years old winemaker in training, went to the winery to help trial the wines last week.  She really wanted to get it right and took notes about the details that I thought you might enjoy.

*  Measure and weigh precisely to get what you want or one thing could over power the other.

* You have to think strategy when doing this.

* Science and Math are important so I now know why I need to learn them in school.

* When you blend you have to see the strengths and weaknesses each wine has.

*  Its ALL about the taste!

* Know the harvest dates on the wine as it makes a big difference what they are like.  Blending different block wines but sometimes same wines from different dates harvested.

* Smell is like taste.  If the smell is good you’re going to want to taste it.

* Take Lots and LOTS of notes!

* You don’t want to taste a wine that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth even when your blending:-(

*Keep track of things!

*Balance is important.

*Sometimes you have to add things in to get it the way you want.  It could mean mixing 3 wines.

*Taking really good notes is important.

*Tweaking the wine a little bit to get what you want is harder then it seems.

* Math, Math, Math, and more math…

* You want it to taste like the best fruit EVER.

* How many cases do you want to produce.  (Math again)

*  As soon as you get what you want you can ‘play’ with other things.  No playing until you get what you need.

*Astringent means something like cotton mouth??

* Don’t jump into things.  You have to consider every last detail.

*Perfect balance of everything is the goal of blending.

*Sometimes you just have to start over again.  Which means more math!

* A good expression -subtle.