One of the best parts about drinking wine for me is learning about it. It’s part of the reason I took the WSET Level 2…just to learn more about wine. I attended Taste Washington 2014 in Seattle and attended a seminar in addition to the grand tasting event.
The Northstar Blending Experience gave me and the other participants the opportunity to custom-blend our own wines in addition to getting a great overview of Washington’s growing regions. The seminar was led by Northstar Winery winemaker David “Merf” Merfeld.
The seminar started with an overview of the wine-growing regions of Washington State. We then tasted barrel samples of four very distinct Merlots from four different growing regions of Washington State, as well as a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Petit Verdot, and the Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley 2010.
After our tasting, we were given the opportunity to blend wine. We could try to match the Northstar Merlot Columbia Valley 2010 blend or we could create our own unique blend. I opted to create my own blend as that appealed to me more. With a glass beaker and graduated cylinder in hand, I created two blends as part of the exercise. The wines we worked with were six of the the ones we sampled:
- Beverly Vineyard Merlot Columbia Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- Anna Marie Vineyard Merlot Walla Walla Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- Mike Andrews Vineyard Merlot Horse Heaven Hills 2012 (barrel sample)
- Shaw Vineyard Merlot Red Mountain 2012 (barrel sample)
- Anna Marie Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla 2012 (barrel sample)
- StoneTree Vineyard Petit Verdot Wahluke Slope 2012 (barrel sample)
My Blends
First Blend
- 60% Anna Marie Vineyard Merlot Walla Walla Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- 20% Anna Marie Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla 2012 (barrel sample)
- 10% Beverly Vineyard Merlot Columbia Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- 10% StoneTree Vineyard Petit Verdot Wahluke Slope 2012 (barrel sample)
Second Blend
- 20% Anna Marie Vineyard Merlot Walla Walla Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- 20% Beverly Vineyard Merlot Columbia Valley 2012 (barrel sample)
- 20% Shaw Vineyard Merlot Red Mountain 2012 (barrel sample)
- 20% Mike Andrews Vineyard Merlot Horse Heaven Hills 2012 (barrel sample)
- 10% Anna Marie Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla 2012 (barrel sample)
- 10% StoneTree Vineyard Petit Verdot Wahluke Slope 2012 (barrel sample)
Of the two blends, I liked the second the best. It was more rounded and complex than the first, probably because of the differences of the various Merlots that were used.
Disclaimer: While I attended the Grand Tasting for Taste Washington, I paid for the Northstar Blending Experience on my own.
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