Here’s how you can make your own wine blend in Uptown -- no experience necessary
Want to learn how to create your own signature wine blend? The CharlotteFive team did, so we spent an hour testing out the The Ritz-Carlton Charlotte’s new Wine Blending Experience at its Hidden Wine boutique.
The wine-blending station comes in the form of a giant wooden table in the hotel lobby — you can’t miss it when you walk through the main doors of the hotel on East Trade Street in Uptown.
What’s easier to miss is the door just beyond the table, by the front desk. That door leads to Hidden Wine, a little bottle shop nook lined with shelves that are filled with wine bottles, not to mention some wines on tap. Here, you’ll find European, American and sparkling wines and Champagne.
Explore the shop for a minute, then take a seat at that giant table in the lobby. The blending experience takes about an hour.
During the C5 experience, we were seated in front of a white, laminated placemat (much needed for messy wine drips and messier note-taking). The mat was lined with a beaker and graduated cylinder, three glasses for three blend experiments, glasses for sampling wines prior to blending, and a decanter. Off to the side was a line of five individual containers of wine for pouring: Cabernet, Merlot, Grenache, Syrah and Cabernet Franc.
The point was for each of us to craft a personal signature blend based on our preferred flavor profile of those varietals. Wine steward Sam Nudelman was our guide, and he made it easy on us by saying that the ideal blend is really just in the eye of the beholder. He also chatted about the history behind the wines, and their regions of origin.
The the blending (and dripping) began.
For the experimental phase of the blending experience, the magic number is 90 mL. This will yield you one glass of your blend. One aspect to look for in a good wine, according to Nudelman, is a finish that is long and lingers and is palpable.
And if you want to try the C5 signature blend concocted during our amateur hour (no guarantees on the proper finish), it’s mixed like this:
– 50 mL Syrah, for a zap of pepper.
– 30 mL Cabernet Franc, for a dry, acidic kick.
– 10 mL Grenache for a hint of sweetness.
And there you have it, the official CharlotteFive Final Draft.
The experience is $65 per person and is available to the public and overnight guests. Don’t forget to get your blend bottled in a half bottle, meant to be enjoyed within 24-48 hours.
Not that you needed an excuse.
Hidden Wine at The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte: 201 E. Trade St.
Call for information and reservations: 704-547-2244
Photos: Katie Toussaint
This story was originally published April 23, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Here’s how you can make your own wine blend in Uptown -- no experience necessary."