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!
Authored and photographed by @jeanwandimi
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That's a cool Wine Valley :)
Valley like paradise wine wind dine and forget your sorrow
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NIce images.. not much of a wine drinker.. but good wines are also a good investment.
yes it is. @generation
Really cool tutorial man, thanks for the info!
You are welcome.
Every wine lovers dream workplace.All that is needed to succeed in it -passion,great taste buds,a working nose,lots of experimenting all capped by the production of a great vintage wines.
Couldn't have said this better.
Wow amazing! I'd love to be a wine maker for a day. I love wine so I'd really enjoy it. Do they only make white wine or red too? I'd prefer to make red, I like it more than white :)
Being a wine maker is a dream. They make some amazing red wine too.
We grew up in the Cape and are not strangers to wine as even as kids we always had a small glass of wine at the table, for us it was a learning process of wine tasting as our parents would always do an explanation of the wine we were drinking, so your post brings back a lot of memories for me of my childhood. Thanks for a great post.
I didn't grow up drinking wine but I can appreciate that. It helps you sharpen your sense and appreciate it from a home setting.
I do agree.
This sounds like so much fun!!! I anticipate catching wind of your vineyard encounters since we have an inclination that we are living vicariously through your posts. I have never known about wine mixing this way. I have known about mixing at the grape level yet never after the wines have been made. We began making our own wine as of late however it's not the same. We are essentially making it from the concentrated syrup and a bing every one of the additional items.
I am glad you love this post. Thanks for leaving a thoughtful comment friend. Tell me more about your wine.
The restaurant is so beautiful, its jute plates and glass looks very beautiful, thank you for giving us this post, thanks
Thanks for appreciating.
nice,,,post Boss
Wow how amazing. You sure had such a wonderful time.
Who will say no to that? Lol... Its amazing when you have people do some work for you inyour own name even though one will pay for it and there a some disadvantages attached to it.
M voting you right away @adsactly
Wow what a beautiful nature. We sure live in a beautiful world.
Thanks friend.
I like wine!
Done
yes good men
Nice post your posts are very good
enjoy the travel.
Very nice travel post.........photography also awesome.....my one of the most favorite hobby is travel...... @adsactly
I agree. Travel is amazing.
This is such an informative post for wine drinkers! Really great! @adsactly
very cool. Looks neat.
nice post my friend!
I like the drink, it will be refreshing.
Thanks @adsactly
This is nice my taste buds are craving for some wine @adsactly are you from South Africa?
hey. I am from Kenya but South Africa is like my 2nd home.
Awesome!!! good photo!!
Haha Actually same thing i felt while reading your blog :D :D I thought i am back to my Chemistry lab where we used to do mixing of different substances :P
Well it i quite new thing for me to blend the wine and i am sure it is both chemical as well as industrial process, quiet informative :)
I am glad you got some value from this piece.
I like it your traveling...
Together is better..
Nice water...
Success is always for you @adsactly
Congratulations @adsactly,, The amazing adventure enjoys an amazingly delicious and top class wine ..
Enjoy the traveling
The process looks simple, we do make a blend in our house too, we just call It fruit blend, several fruits like watermelon, apple, grape, etc
It is not that simple but that works too. Lol.
Oh lol, yeah yeah
I hope you enjoy traveling, tasting wines is an art.
I'm glad you enjoy it.
Greetings from Venezuela ❤
Yes I think it is both an art and a science.
This sounds like so much fun!!! I look forward to hearing about your vineyard experiences because we feel like we are living vicariously through your posts. I have never heard of wine blending like this. I have heard of blending at the grape level but never after the wines have been made. We started making our own wine recently but it’s not the same. We are simply making it from the concentrated syrup and a bing all the extras. Takes about 4 weeks to finish. The bottling and labeling are our favourite part.
Wow thanks so much for appreciating and leaving a thoughtful comment. I also think bottling and labelling are fun especially when don by hand.
Thank you for giving us this post
penicillin heals but the wine is happy.
Wow it's cool baby
oh thats awesome image but i can,t read whole article because m not well in english but i hope this article will blast everyone,s eyes ball please follow me and thanks for sharing
I am glad the images could tell a story. Thanks for the great wishes.
Thank you for this interesting and important, in your sense, information!
GREAT PLACE. WINE PLACE WINE VALLEY
Agreed!
This is nice my taste buds are craving for some wine ;are you from South Africa;;;
No I am from Kenya but South Africa is like my 2nd home.
It seems very entertaining and fun. I do not know if it is necessary to have notions of wine or any profane in the subject can do it
Everybody wins here on steemit.
Wine cellar, blending and bottling.
A perfect mean of entreprenuership
I did something like this in France a few years ago and had an amazing experience! It's always fun to try something new and it sounds like you were successful your very first time, so that's pretty cool. Wine is so yummy and there are so many possibilities to choose from. Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Ivy
I would love to visit France for the wine and food. Particulary the Burgundy region
👍👍
Interesting Indeed! :D
Nace mineum sambil santai cukup keren@adsactly
like this is reallyyyy cooool...definitely trying this out when i visit south Africa. thanks for the enlightenment also, learnt a lot about wine blending..Cheers!
You are welcome.
That's great never known to this wine blending before got the idea here ....... So interesting .....
I so much love the seminar workshop of how to make a nice Drinks...Thank you very much @adsactly for the documentation
Nice Travel, I Like It :)
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great artical!
I really enjoy Slanghoek wines. Didn't know they did this and have been wanting to do tasting there for a while. Double motivation. Lekker blog!
Even better that you can go now. Glad to have inspired you.