Winemaker for the Day: Join a Custom Blending Experience
Highest Rated Winery Event
Last month I participated in a custom blending experience at Bending Branch Winery in the Texas Hill Country. However, I am not new to this experience. Over the years “making a custom blend” is my top recommendation of activities to do as a wine tourist. Many wineries like Marimar Estate, Sonoma, CA and Bending Branch Winery, Comfort, TX conduct these blending events as a special benefit to their wine club members. Others open the experience to the public for a fee. I was so taken with my blend at Raymond Vineyards in Napa Valley (blending event is open to the public) that I actually had three cases made to give as corporate and personal gifts. The label-making exercise was thought provoking, too. What expression would you want to use to convey how you feel about drinking wine with friends? See my quote in a section below.
“Winemaker For A Day” – Raymond Vineyards, Napa Valley, CA
“Live the dream of being a 'Winemaker For A Day'” in the Blending Room at Raymond Vineyards, St. Helena, California. During this three-hour exercise you will learn the winemaker’s art while blending your own Napa Valley Bordeaux-style red blend. After crafting your wine, filling your bottle, corking it, capsuling it, and dressing it with your digitally created custom label, you will take the bottle home with you that day. Raymond Vineyards has the ability to produce additional cases of your personal blend to enjoy with family and friends. This experience is open to the public for $175 per person (Club Members 20% off.)
I recommend this blending experience to all my subscribers who visit Napa Valley. My personal blend finished at 50% Cabernet Franc, 35% Merlot, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2% Petit Verdot. The Raymond team along with Proprietor, Jean-Charles Boisset, make sure that all guests experience their passion for fine wine through exploration, creativity, and elegant whimsicality throughout the winery, biodynamic garden, and vineyards.
See Wine Wanderings Interview, August 2021, “Jean Charles Boisset: Burgundy, Sonoma, and Napa Valley’s Flamboyant Wine Ambassador.”
“We have participated In Raymond Vineyards ‘Winemaker for a Day’ event on several occasions. They create an authentic winemaking experience where they take you into a laboratory, you don special wine-room jackets, and they get you excited about creating your own proprietary blend. I highly recommend this experience.” – Erin Botsford, CEO, ErinBotsford.com
Bending Branch Winery Blending Event - A 1840 Wine Club Event Experience
As a participant at the media table at the Bending Branch annual 1840 Wine Club two-day blending event, my Wine Wanderings team and I were not allowed to win the competition. Darn! But we were told our table would have been in the top 4 going into the finals, if our blend had been eligible to win.
At each table were blending glasses and a graduated cylinder (remember Chemistry 101) for getting the exact % of each wine used in trial. After 5 different blends, we refined our favorite red blend. Our blend consisted of 45% Merlot, 50% Petit Sirah, and 5% Tannat. We loved the Malbec but passed on it for our final blend. And although we didn’t win the competition, we thought our blend was a winner for sure!
The winning team from each day is invited to a welcome reception this Spring followed by a four-course dinner with wine pairings that is prepared by a local guest chef. The main course features the winning wine blend from each day, and the other courses are paired with current vintage and library wines selected by Dr. Bob Young, CEO/Winemaker and Jennifer Cernosek, General Manager. The club members told me this was their top club event of the year.
“This makes you step out of your comfort zone,” – Kirstin Shin, Bending Branch Winery, 1840 Wine Club member.
For more information on Bending Branch Winery, see “Breaking News: Texas Winery Named ‘WineBusiness Monthly’ Hot 10 Brand of 2024,” February 1, 2025.
Pinot Noir Blending & Lunch Event, Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery, Sonoma, CA
According to Marimar Torres, Founder, the annual Pinot Noir Blending & Lunch Event at Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery is one of the top favorite activities of their wine club. The cost is $170/person for the three-hour event.
“We select four barrels of different ‘select clone’ Pinot Noir wines and let our club members craft their own blend. While overlooking the Don Miguel Vineyard, they are then treated to a lavish Spanish lunch featuring an array of tapas. Club member take home a bottle of their proprietary blend, complete with their own custom label.”- Marimar Torres, Founder/Proprietor, Marimar Estate Vineyards & Winery, Vice President, Familia Torres
Marimar Estate Vineyards and Winery is nestled in the rolling hills of Sonoma County, the Russian River/Green Valley, an appellation famous for producing world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines. This estate is part of the Familia Torres group with headquarters in the Catalan Penedes region of Spain.
See Wine Wanderings, “Familia Torres: Wine Dynasty – Interview with Miguel Torres, GM,”, June 2022. The article was written after they were named Drinks International “The World’s Most Admired Wine Brand” in 2022 and retained their crown through 2024.
What I Printed on My Custom Blending Label:
“What I do and what I dream include thee, as the wine must taste of its own grapes.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Tricia Conover, DipWSET, Editor, WW: “What will you include on your custom label?” Try a custom blending experience and discover your skill and creativity.
Recommended Wines
2021 Raymond Vineyards, Reserve Selection Merlot, Napa Valley, $54
Wine Enthusiast, 92 Points
2021 Raymond Vineyards Reserve Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley $45
Wine Enthusiast, 92 Points
2020 Bending Branch Tempranillo, Newsome Vineyards, Texas High Plains, $45
“Hot 10 Brands of 2024” recommendation of WineBusiness Monthly, Feb. 2025
2023 Bending Branch Estate Picpoul Blanc, Camledge Vineyard, $34
New Release. An elegant, polished white wine, from the grape known as “the lip-stinger.” 2025 Silver award Forth Worth Stock Show & Rodeo International Wine Competition.
2022 Marimar Estates Vineyard & Winery, La Masía Chardonnay, Russian River Valley $50
Wine Enthusiast, 91 Points
2019 Marimar Estates Vineyard & Winery, Mas Cavalls Pinot Noir, West Sonoma Coast, $58
Wine Enthusiast, 93 Points
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Sounds like a great experience. I personally will add the Marimar Vineyard to list to go visit.