Blending Workshop at the London School of Economics

James and Graham ran a blending workshop for friends and alumni of the London School of Economics this week.

James and Graham ran a blending workshop for friends and alumni of the London School of Economics this week. The workshop used the Domaine’s 2012 red wines which are still aging in tank and barrels. The workshop explored how a blend of wines of different varieties and from different plots can be blended together to make wines of greater complexity and depth, both on the nose and the palate.

The blending used five different wine samples, three of which were aged in tank and two of which were from a range of French oak barrels. The objective was to see if we could come up with :

• A quality approachable red wine to be labelled as the 2012 Tradition

• A reserve wine to justify being classified as Le Gentleman 2012

• A limited edition, special wine, Cuvée Bélénos, which we would issue in 2012 but might not make in other years.

It was held at a nearly finished new student building on the LSE campus. Lovely building, lucky students! Much better facilities than when Graham studied at LSE last century!

The exercise was a great success, with fantastic feedback from the LSE’s friends and alumni (and two LSE professors!). We were told the guests ‘’really enjoyed themselves’’ and rated it ‘’a unique experience’’.

So, next month, we need to decide the final blend. Watch this space!

On the left : James, our winemaker, in action ! On the right : The samples used for the wine blending.