Mixing Different Wines

Mixing Different Wines

In the final pages of The Apprentice, Jacque Pepin’s autobiography, the chef made the (to me) startling admission that he frequently mixes wines. If he has a little Merlot left at the end of the evening, he may just mix that in with the half bottle of Cabernet he has sitting around.

When I was in college, I heard that one of the fraternities in town would frequently have parties where everyone would bring alcohol and just pour it into a drum that became the communcal quaffing trough for the remainder of the (no doubt) long night. Though this practice seems self-consciously repellent, the mixing of wine by Pepin may not be completely insane, and could even yield interesting results. One recalls the sainted Joe Danno, of the now defunct Bucket o’ Suds, who would frequently blend liquors to create his own visionary concoctions.

Tea and coffee are similar to wine in that both reflect terroir and special handling by master craftsmen, and both are blended…though usually by said master craftsman and not by the end user. Lately, though, I’ve started mingling disparate teas (I particularly like a little Earl Grey in my oolong), and certainly the more savvy among us mix their coffee beans for unique blends, so why not mix your wine?

Granted, mixing wine could a crap shoot. However, with some general guidelines (Pepin tells us, helpfully, that he mixes only red with red and white with white), it’d seem possible to create new tastes that are eminently imbibable if one is willing to violate the cardinal injunction – observed in even middle grade liquor stores that give different little cups for tasting different wines – against mixing different wines.

David Hammond wrote:Granted, mixing wine could a crap shoot. However, with some general guidelines (Pepin tells us, helpfully, that he mixes only red with red and white with white), it’d seem possible to create new tastes that are eminently imbibable if one is willing to violate the cardinal injunction – observed in even middle grade liquor stores that give different little cups for tasting different wines – against mixing different wines.

Aren't a lot of notable wines blends? If the vintner can do it why can't you?

I imagine the "injunction" in stores is simply that they (a) don't want to offend some customers who might truly think mixing gauche and (b) want you to taste exactly what you are tasting, considering that you're thinking about buying. Unless they were recommending a specific "suicide" blend, it would be wrong for the store to mix your tasters.

We host our wine group a few times a year. On average we end up opening about 30 to 40 bottles of wine from one region for each event. Not all of the bottles are finished so at the end of the night I'll blend like wines together and the next day I've give them a taste. The good ones get drunk that week, the others get cooked down and frozen for quicker reductions
and simple additions to pan sauces or for braising. I can't say that any of the blends I've done have been great and most have a sort of disjointed feel to them. I do remember on mixed bottle of CnP's from '89 and '90
that was a terrific blend of well... blends...
go figure!

For what it's worth, a few years ago, one of the editors of Wine Spectator published an article/opinion on his habit of blending different wines. I recall he favored the idea. Anybody with a comprehensive WS collection willing to dig around for that piece?

Back in the day I went to the Aspen Food & Wine Classic. At the final round table, Frank Prial (then-wine critic for the NY Times) talked about how he and some other pals, including James Beard, would meet annually to eat and taste lots of bottles of wine. At the end of the wine tasting, everything (red and white) would get mixed together and drunk. I figure if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. Although I confess I usually don't have more than one bottle open at a time.

And I heartily recommend Pepin's suggesting of mixing together the odds and ends of cheeses in a blender with some white wine, then spread on bread and melted in the oven. Yummmmmmmmmmm. That's a great book.

Interesting. My first reaction is to recoil, but upon reflection it is not a bad idea.

I too host a wine tasting a few times a year, and usually have more partial bottles left than I know what to do with. But here is the rub:

If it is good wine, I do not really want to mix it. Not so much a problem since the better bottles get drunk somehow, but there are often bottles I like more than the rest of the group does.

If it is not so great, can it be improved by combining it with other not so great wines? Seems possible, but unlikely.

So the process would be one of taking multiple mediocre wines, combining them and hoping the process makes a good wine. Seems possible, but unlikely.

I really like the idea of making and freezing wine reductions, though - so obvious and wonderful, I am there!

Also trying to do a search on the WS web site on blending, but I have a terrible time getting pages to load on that site at times, and the search page is giving me attitude. Will post if it ever replies. I could also search back issues, which I do keep, but this web thingie seems more efficient if it ever works.

I was at a catered party one time where the beverage choices were red wine, white wine, and bud light. The red and white were horrible, and I like to taste my beer, so I tried mixing the red and white. The result was a drinkable rose. Not good, mind you, but it got me through the party.

-Will

dicksond wrote:
If it is not so great, can it be improved by combining it with other not so great wines? Seems possible, but unlikely.

So the process would be one of taking multiple mediocre wines, combining them and hoping the process makes a good wine. Seems possible, but unlikely.

I try and combine like wines that may not be to my tastes be they to oaky, too fruit forward, lacking in fruit etc..... mixing an over-oaked CA chard with a under fruited bourgogne can make a blend that appeals my tastes better than either one on its own. Not a perfect solution but sometime it's all I need to do to enjoy a glass of wine...