Tannic Panic! Issue #88: Alchemy or Blasphemy?

How to use post-bottle blending to create a wine that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Wake up and smell the “potions” you inquisitive little winos, because today we’re diving into a topic we’ve wanted to write about for a long time: wine alchemy.

You may (or may not) have wondered at some point in your humble “career” of existence what would happen if you took what was in your little glass and mixed it with someone else’s.

Would it make something even more delicious? Would the flavors from one clash or cancel out the flavors of another? Would it change colors? IS IT SAFE?!

We’re probably giving some pretentious “traditionalists” out there palpitations just hinting at the concept of post-bottle blending. They might argue it’s a violation of the winemaker's original artistic vision and the wine's authentic “terroir” — that such post-bottling experimentation can potentially disrupt the carefully “crafted” balance of flavors (if not the space-time continuum itself), creating unintended and disharmonious taste profiles. Some “wine experts” would argue that finished wines have already completed their integration process and may not recombine successfully, unlike carefully constructed blends created during initial winemaking.

Well we “wine idiots” would argue they’re wrong. In fact, today we’re going to show you how you can put two mediocre bargain wines together to make an absolute banger — you just need the right “ingredients” (THE GOOD KIND!)

Of course, it cuts both ways, and, yes, there are wines that would give either one of us palpitations to see recklessly blended. But those aren’t the wines we’re talking about.

And while this approach might initially seem blasphemous to the card-carrying dinosaurs of the "Way It's Always Been Club," it presents an intriguing opportunity for wine enthusiasts (LIKE ME!) to potentially create high quality, balanced wines from “less than perfect” starting materials.

Finding opportunities to combine already bottled wines into something shiny and new is a bit of an art form — a mad science, if you will — and by and large the ultimate goal is the same as pre-bottle blending: to make something more balanced and complex.

PRE-BOTTLE BLENDING “EXPLAINED”

During the winemaking process, blending wines prior to bottling is a “strategic technique” that winemakers use to achieve balance and complexity in the final product. Balance refers to the harmonious integration of a wine's key sensory components—acidity, sweetness, alcohol, tannin, and concentration—where no single element dominates the wine. By combining wines with complementary characteristics, winemakers can create a more “nuanced” and refined “beverage” that offers a seamless, sophisticated tasting experience.

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DID YOU KNOW… “Chefs” and “mixologists” carefully blend specific components to generate a product that outperforms the sum of its parts in terms of flavor, texture and complexity! WOW! So if chefs and barkeeps can do it, why can’t we apply the same principles to bottled wine?

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Let’s face it, you can’t expect every bottle to drink like a First Growth, and producers constantly have to work around limitations in the vineyard and the winery, or even willfully make sacrifices to quality to cut costs and create a product that more people can afford. And that’s great, because then more people get to go out and enjoy a bottle of wine. But it also means that a lot of bottles are less than perfect.

Think about the last time you tasted a wine that was too acidic, or lacking in concentration. Maybe it had too much fruit and too little earth — or too much earth, and not a lot of anything else. Halfway there, but fell flat on one measure or another (LIKE ME!).

The concept is simple really — just figure out what’s missing, and if you can find that missing element in the form of another wine that’s missing what the first wine had, the effect of combining them can be synergistic.

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THE RUDY KURNIAWAN STORY

DID YOU KNOW… Rudy Kurniawan, “notoriously” known as a master of post-bottling blending, transformed the concept from a theoretical experiment into a “criminal” art form when he counterfeited some of the most coveted and expensive bottles in the world. His sophisticated operation involved meticulously recreating legendary wines by blending cheaper vintages. Kurniawan's counterfeits were so precise that he fooled even some of the most experienced collectors, potentially flooding the market with up to 75% of fine wine counterfeits in the mid-2000s (THE GOOD KIND!).

Courtroom drawing of Rudy Kurniawan during his trial

Rudy’s formula for a counterfeit 1945 Mouton Rothschild consisted of one-half 1988 Pichon Melant as the “base wine” (a younger good quality Bordeaux with similar characteristics), one-quarter oxidized Bordeaux of some kind (to mimic the aged characteristics of very old Bordeaux), and one-quarter Napa Cabernet of some kind (to add body).

If you’re interested in his story and you haven’t seen it, there’s a documentary called "Sour Grapes” that beautifully tells the wild and bizarre story of Rudy Kurniawan and how he duped the fine wine industry with his innovative and ingenious blending skills.

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NOW FOR OUR LITTLE FORMULAE

This week, we’ve each concocted a blend, and as this is our first alchemy issue we decided to keep things simple by following two basic parameters: the blend must use two bottles blended at 50/50, and each bottle must cost $20 or less.

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Tannic Panic’s “Ingredient” Bottles & Alchemy Blends…

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FORMULA #1: ZACH’S BLEND

• INGREDIENT 1: 2021 Carpineto Chianti Classico

Profile: Red cherry, red plum, strawberry, roses, violets, dried herbs, earth, walnut, cedar, copper penny, cocoa powder.
Palate: Dry, high acid, medium+ tannin, medium body, long finish

This wine is very good, but a bit lacking in richness/concentration, and the acidity is too high given the level of concentration. This is why I thought this could be improved by blending with a rich, well-made New World Cab dominated by black fruits with some oak spice to give this wine more richness and additional complexity to “round out” the excessively high acidity.

Score Breakdown: Balance 37 / Aroma/Flavor 18 / Intensity 12 / Length 15 / Complexity 8 = 90 points

• INGREDIENT 2: 2021 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County

Profile: Black cherry, blackberry preserves, cassis, blueberry, wet stone, cedar, ballpoint pen ink, mocha, vanilla
Palate: Dry, medium+ acid, high tannin, full body, long finish

This is a good, straight-forward and well structured Sonoma Cab mainly dominated by rich black fruits with some oak spice that could benefit from additional complexity and a slight lift in acidity. For this reason, I thought it would be complemented by blending with a well made Chianti Classico with high acidity, red fruit character and herbaceous notes to make a so-called “Super Tuscan” style blend.

Score Breakdown: Balance 36 / Aroma/Flavor 18 / Intensity 12 / Length 15 / Complexity 7 = 88 points

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🧪 THE ALCHEMY BLEND: 50% Chianti / 50% Cab
Average price: $19 Final score: 93 points

Profile: Black plum, black cherry, blackberry, dried strawberry, iron (sanguine note), wet stone, cedar, violets, dried herbs, licorice, fig paste, mocha
Palate: Dry, full body, medium+ acid, high tannin, long finish

Mix of black and red fruits, perfectly balanced acidity, good structure and concentration and more complexity than either single bottling.

Score Breakdown: Balance 38 / Aroma/Flavor 19 / Intensity 12 / Length 15 / Complexity 9 = 93 points

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FORMULA #2: ISAAC’S BLEND

• INGREDIENT 1: 2014 Chateau La Papeterie Montagne Saint Emilion

Profile: Dried cherry, wet leaves, fig, pencil shavings, vanilla, tobacco, decaying violet, mushroom
Palate: Dry, medium+ tannin, medium+ acid, medium body, long finish

Concentration is lacking and in spite of the aromatic beauty and intrigue, it is a bit thin on the palate with a shockingly short finish. Still, a very nice wine and an excellent value Bordeaux with over a decade of age on it.

Instinctively I would have definitely scored this higher because it really is an excellent wine by all measures except for concentration and length.

Score Breakdown: Balance 36 / Aroma/Flavor 18 / Concentration 13 / Length 8 / Complexity 8 = 83 points.

[NOTE ON PRICE: I was able to get this for under $20, but the current link is showing a slightly newer vintage for a couple dollars more]

• INGREDIENT 2: 2022 Chateau de Thau Cotes de Bourg

Profile: Violets, black cherry, blueberry, chocolate, hint of graphite
Palate: Dry, high tannin, high acid, full body, long finish

Much riper and more plush style, shockingly approachable for its age and very “new world” in style, with lots of fruit and a little hot on the alcohol. Aromatically driven by a sort of ripe sweet dark fruit bouquet (though the wine itself is completely dry) and ends with a slightly bitter finish with very grippy youthful tannins that lack “grace.” Really doesn’t have a lot of depth or complexity. Again, a really solid bargain Bordeaux and unusually drinkable in its youth, but it is just simple and a little off balance.

Score Breakdown: Balance 35 / Aroma/Flavor 16 / Concentration 15 / Length 15 / Complexity 5 = 86 points

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🧪 THE ALCHEMY BLEND: 50% 2014 PAPETERIE + 50% 2022 THAU
Average price: $19 Final score: 91 points

Profile: Chocolate, black cherry, licorice, sanguine iron note, pencil shavings, tobacco, hint of violet
Palate: Dry, high tannin, medium+ acid, full body, long finish

This resulting wine from the blend really knocks it out of the park. The lack of concentration from the 2014 and the lack of complexity from the youthful 2022 vanish from the equation. The heat from the 2022 is gone, and the tannins are a little softer. The finish is long and the profile is beautiful. Interestingly, there is more licorice and a bit of a metallic sanguine note that neither component seemed to prominently feature.

Score Breakdown: Balance 37 / Aroma/Flavor 17 / Concentration 15 / Length 15 / Complexity 7 = 91 Points

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Tips for planning your first “experiment”

When planning a wine alchemy recipe, you can consider various elements of the blend that would improve the balance and overall profile.

• Try tasting one wine, and consider whether or not the balance is substantially off in one measure or another (e.g. acidity, tannic structure, body/richness, purity of fruit, complexity, etc). Then think about what other wines might fill in the blank to create a more complex and balanced “beverage” when blended with that wine.

What are some flavor notes to consider for your components?

• Oak (chocolate, mocha, vanilla, dill, coconut), floral notes (white flowers, roses, violets), minerality (wet stone, flint, chalk), spice (black pepper, white pepper, cumin), herbaceousness (green pepper, mint, thyme), earthiness, ripe fruit vs dried fruit, black fruit vs red fruit... Go through your rolodex of descriptors and think about what could be interesting or complementary to the blend.

Want the wine to taste like it has more age?

• Try blending in a wine that’s been open for a while and has taken on some oxidative character.

Struggling to decide what wines to try combining?

• One approach is to consider well established blends that are “proven” to work together, like Super Tuscans, Rhone, or Bordeaux style blends, and combine their component varieties to make a “replica” of sorts

• Another is to throw it all at the wall and see what happens. You might be surprised what works (and what doesn’t). Sometimes the curveball is the key to an unexpectedly inspired blend — like a few drops of NZ sauvignon blanc in a red blend to add some brightness and aromatic intrigue.

Remember, the sky is your oyster.

Until next time, HAPPY “ALCHEMIZING” PEOPLE.

Cheers!

Isaac & Zach