Peter Christen, Tarrangower Times

While it might sound like a technical process (and sometimes it is), blending wine is also deeply creative, it’s where intuition, experience and a touch of gut instinct meet to craft something that’s more than the sum of its parts.

At Panacea Estate, blending is one of my favourite parts of winemaking. It’s part science, part art—and all about listening to the wine and learning what has worked well and not worked well from the trials that occurred a year ago.

Why blend wines at all?

There are a few great reasons to blend:

• Balance – One wine might have bold fruit but lack structure. Another might have great acidity but not enough length. Together, they fill in each other’s gaps.
• Complexity – Blending allows different layers of aroma, flavour and texture to come through. It’s like adding harmonies to a melody.
• Consistency – In small wineries like ours, vintages vary. Blending can smooth out differences and create a signature house style—even from year to year.

Blending isn’t about masking flaws. It’s about enhancing character—highlighting the best of what each component brings.

When approaching blending, it is good to think of each wine component as a character in a story. Some are bold and outspoken. Others are quiet but necessary—like punctuation. The goal isn’t to let one voice dominate, but to create harmony.

Here’s what I look for:

• Personality – The unique voice of a varietal or barrel. Maybe it’s a fragrant rosé with wild strawberry notes, or a soft vanilla from a fresh oak barrel of shiraz or some more brashness and pepper from an American oak barrel that refuses to be ignored.
• Structure – Acidity, tannin and body. These are the bones of the wine. A strong backbone gives the blend shape and aging potential.
• Style – This is where vision comes in. Are we making something fresh and vibrant for summer drinking? Or a more contemplative red for cooler nights?

Every blend starts with a question: ‘What are we trying to say with this wine?’

Some of our wines are blended from the start—like our Rose All Day, which often combines different varietals and combined to make a consistent product each year.

Others, like our Shiraz, are crafted from multiple barrels, each with different oak, age of barrel, type of yeast used and even small differences—a few days of extra skin contact can give us options to fine-tune the final blend.

We taste, test, spit and swirl. Then we do it again. And again. Sometimes a blend comes together in minutes. Other times, it takes longer and many different opinions and discussions on what would create the best option.

On a personal note, thanks to the Welshmans Reef team for coming to help tasting and always teaching me more about the wine-making process and giving their opinions on this year’s blending. Also, to those lucky enough to be at Panacea Estate on the weekend while I was doing the tasting to help out and give their opinions, it is a great pleasure to experience this with others and talk through what everyone is experiencing with the wines and how to get the best from them.

These moments reminds me why I make wine. Not just to bottle a beverage, but to tell a story, enjoy it with friend, both old and new. Next time you’re sipping a Panacea Estate wine, see if you can find the layers. Better yet, visit the winery and taste different varietals side by side. You might just discover the story within the glass. 

This article appeared in Tarrangower Times, 25 April 2025.