Listening for Harmony in Wine

When I think about blending wine, I don’t think in numbers first.
I think in music.

To me, a blend is like a major chord. The high note is acidity. The low note is tannin. And the middle—the body, the texture, the balance—is what holds everything together. When it works, nothing sticks out. There’s no sharp edge, no jarring moment. Everything fits.

That’s always my goal: balance.

I want the aroma to match the palate. What you smell should prepare you for what you taste. I don’t want alcohol to announce itself. I don’t want acidity or tannin to dominate. I want all the elements working together, supporting one another. When that happens, the wine doesn’t just taste good—it sings. It becomes more than the sum of its parts.

I came to winemaking through food. I trained as a chef and spent years cooking professionally, often working as a saucier. Building sauces taught me how flavours and textures interact, how small adjustments can completely change the result. When I discovered wine, blending felt familiar—just a different medium, with its own rules and its own kind of magic.

Winemaking lives somewhere between science and intuition. There are numbers, chemistry, timing, logistics. And then there’s walking the vineyard, tasting the fruit, listening to what it’s telling you. Fermentation is controlled chaos. Early on, you’re extracting aroma and colour. As alcohol rises, tannin and structure come into play. Every decision matters, and no two wines behave exactly the same way.

Because I work as a consultant, I’m not making wine for myself. I’m making wine for someone else’s vision. Often, I’ll create several blends—different expressions of the same idea—because what people think they want and what they actually love in the glass aren’t always the same thing. My job is to help them discover the wine that truly represents them.

A great wine should evolve. It should change with air. It should change with food. When I teach pairing, I always encourage people to taste both ways—food first, then wine, and wine first, then food. Ideally, each one makes the other better.

After more than two decades of making wine, that’s still what excites me: finding harmony, creating space, and letting all the elements come together into something that feels alive.

I talk with Sean Trace of the Barrels and Roots podcast about blending, balance, chaos, and the stories wines carry—from vineyard to glass. Have a listen.

View and listen to more podcasts from Barrel and Roots on YouTube.