BU - Bruliam

“…and it’s the only time of year you’ll ever see me in the winery,” Brian bragged. Some curious tourists had wandered into the lab, splitting off from their tour group. The unsuspecting Wisconsinites braced the doorway, slack jawed as smallmouth bass pulled at Prairie du Sac. With each wine loogie I hocked into the plastic measuring cylinder, their preconception of “blending session” torpedoed deeper into the briny deep. Seconds later, they retreated to the security of the tasting room, gulping their zin like a wine cooler. Nothing kills the romance of wine quite like the lab.

Blending is the art of combining different wine components into a cohesive and better tasting composite. And the more parts you can include, the trickier it gets. Combining two individually stunning barrel samples may yield a mediocre or even downright crappy concoction. The process is fun- 99% art and 1% science (you still need to calculate percentage ratios) but also tedious and exhausting. It’s nice to have extra opinions, so Brian and I always blend together. This year was especially exhilarating since the 2010 vintage was my first personal pinot oeuvre. And the juice was tasting great.

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