Blend and Bottle Your Own Wine at Slanghoek Wine Cellar

At Slanghoek Wine Cellar, you can be a winemaker for a day. This is every wine lover’s dream. You become a cellar master and make your own wine without owning a winery. They grow the grapes for you, harvest them, make the wine and all you have to do is taste, experiment, blend, bottle and put your name on it! Can you say no to that?

Slanghoek Wine Valley

We got to visit the great Slanghoek Cellar which was established in the early 1950s. It is located in the Western Cape region of South Africa in the Slanghoek wine valley surrounded by the Slanghoek mountains.

Random beautiful flowers on the road

A little breeze and a light drizzle welcomed us to the great valley. We were then led to a lab-like blending room where there were test tubes, wine glasses and beakers at every station. I felt like I was back in Chemistry class and I had flashbacks of titration sessions. The cellar master Pieter explained to us what the task for the day would be.

Pieter guiding us through the experience

We were briefed about the winery and the wines. They have phenomenal wines due to their microclimate and soils.

Green pastures reflecting the fertile land

They have a great private selection Cabernet Sauvignon and their Chenin Blanc is also worth mentioning. We chose to blend the white wine because we were confident that we knew our white wine well.

Being a Winemaker for a Day

The kind people at Slanghoek give wine lovers the rare opportunity of testing their senses. This is under a series of experiences called the Blend & Bottle sessions. You get an opportunity to blend white or red varietals. You also get to personalise your unique label.

Very attentive

I have always been fascinated with making wine. Since I am not rich enough to own a vineyard or winery, I got to experience how it feels to be a winemaker for a day.

What is Wine Blending?

Wine blending sounds like a complex chemical process but it is simply mixing wines together to come up with a wine that has desired qualities. In the world of wine, winemakers must come up with a wine that they think is fit for bottling. There are innumerable grape varieties and each grape has its own characteristic taste and smell.

My team members & I

Winemakers know what they want in a vintage and sometimes, they blend one, two or even three wines to come up with the perfect wine. For example, you might buy a bottle of wine and see that it has been labelled “red blend” or “white blend” on the bottle. This simply means that one or more grapes have been mixed together in specific ratios to come up with a great blend. An example of a common red blend is Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Cellarmasters are experts in wine blending and they have great palates and they are tasked with coming up with great blends.

The Process

We were 12 people and we were divided into four groups for a blending competition. We had three white wines in different jars. Let’s name the wines 1, 2 and 3. We then had wine 4 that had all the three wines. Our task was to guess the percentage. We were to use our senses to come up with the exact replica of the wine.

The Fact Sheets

We had a measuring jar and we had to guess the real percentages. I was surprised that my team won and we got 100% match which was 20% (wine 1), 24% (Wine 2) and 56% (wine3). To be honest, I would say that it was luck because none of us trusted what we were doing. We won some wine. This meant more wine for me to try stuff in my suitcase when flying back home.

However, we learned that wine blending is an art and it takes practice and having a great palate. It has its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that you can come up with a superior wine even if one of the component grapes did not have desirable qualities. Nonetheless, the disadvantage is that the process is irreversible. Once you mix your wine, you cannot get the wine you had back.

Another disadvantage is that it is hard to replicate the wine for future varietals. All wines taste different even if the same grapes were grown in the same place. Climate and weather affect how the vintages will taste. Another disadvantage is that blending is not a one-off process. You have to keep coming back and approaching the process with fresh senses day after day. It is a process of experimentation, testing and learning. It takes time, energy and concentration.

However, this was a great experience and if you love wine you should do it. Cheers!

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Authored and photographed by @jeanwandimi

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