The last few days have included a lot of blending trials. Now, I learned a long time ago not to complain about this job because as challenging as it can be, it is, after all, tasting wine and complaining is more likely to inspire mocking than sympathy. Instead, I’ll share with you a pretty fun day of putting together the blends for the 2023 Sparkling wines. We are now blending 3 different wines; our traditional brut (usually roughly 50/50-ish Chardonnay and Pinot noir), a brut rosé (mostly Pinot noir and Pinot meunier), and a blanc de blanc (100% chardonnay). Between tasting individual lots and blending trials we tasted about 40 wines. For me, the most fun was the brut rosé.  It is a beautiful wine showing floral, cherry, and strawberry notes with great length and acidity in the finish. We’re going to have to be patient a few years until it is finished, but my mouth is already watering thinking about pairing it with Donna’s watermelon, goat cheese, and pancetta salad and a warm Summer day. More later…