Wine Tastings - DIY - Bordeaux

    I've always wanted to do this style of wine tasting since I began my pursuit of being a Sommelier and I honestly admit that I have a wee-bit of wine envy for the Bordeaux producers from France. They get to blend the great noble grapes of the Bordeaux region into a classic vintage with it's distinctive aromas and flavours. Imagine sitting at a table full of bottles containing Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc (plus possibly others) and blending them together in endless combinations searching for that magical Bordeaux formula that sets your chateau apart from everyone else. What a life !!
    My "Build your own Bordeaux" wine tasting featured both a red and white Bordeaux styles using red wines from Ontario and white wines from Australia. Each participant was given a sheet with the percentages of wine to be put into each type of Bordeaux. The red wines featured Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot from Pelee Island Ontario which is on a similar geographic latitude to the Bordeaux region in France. Each person was given a mixing formula for a Classic or Chateau Bordeaux, a right bank Bordeaux and a left bank Bordeaux along with a tasting glass and three 1 ounce cups to measure the wine portions. For the white Bordeaux, a Semillon and a Sauvignon Blanc from Australia was used to create their personally blended white Bordeaux. I encouraged everyone to assess the aromas and flavours of each wine before blending them together. After blending the wines together, did they like it ? If they didn't, try adding more of what you like to see how much it changes. It's amazing to see how a small amount of Cabernet Franc can really change the flavour of a Bordeaux. A word of advice, use dinner plates under the tasting glass as some people are a little messy when it comes to pouring. It's a real hands on, chemistry type of wine tasting but it's lots of fun.

Here's some examples of the formulas we used to make Bordeaux blends. Since there are no Bordeaux police and the chateaus use their own mix of the essential grapes that make up their Bordeaux, you are free to let your imagination run wild !

Bordeaux Red

Classic Bordeaux - 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
Left Bank Bordeaux - 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc
Right Bank Bordeaux - 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 70% Merlot

Red wines used for our tasting
Pelee Island Cabernet Sauvignon from Pelee Island Ontario
Pelee Island Merlot from Pelee Island Ontario
Pelee Island VQA Cabernet Franc from Pelee Island Ontario

Bordeaux White

Semillon - between 70% to 90%
Sauvignon Blanc - between 30% to 10%

White wines used for our tasting
2006 St Hallett Semillon from Barossa, South Australia, Australia
2011 Lindemans Bin 95 Sauvignon Blanc from Australia

Cheers !