We had an enjoyable lunch with future World Cruisers Joyce and John in the MDR today.  I tried the $13 upcharge Lobster Roll.  It was OK, but nothing like the one we had in Boston the day before the cruise.  I am hardly an expert in Lobster Rolls – so keep that in mind.

I can’t tell the difference between box wine and a bottle costing over $100.  Once I realized the limitations of my wine tasting ability, I now shop for wine based on price alone – or maybe the artwork on the bottle.

I like the concept of The Blend where I can be a winemaker for a day.  I did my first blend on the Nieuw Statendam back in 2019.  I was the only person participating and the whole experience was disappointing.  It’s more fun with a group and on this cruise, we had 6 people doing the blend together.  The Blend room can hold 10 people and we had another couple join us so we had a total of 8.  This was a nice size group as much of the fun of this experience is the banter amongst the participants.

The Blend Experience is $47 for a single or $59 for a cabin (plus 18% gratuity)  You only get one bottle with the cabin price – but both can participate in the tasting.  

We started at 3 pm with a video from Bob Bertheau, who introduced himself as the Head Winemaker for Chateau Ste Michelle.  The first 1/2 hour was a traditional wine tasting with our host, Nick,  explaining the 5 different wines in front of us.

Canoe Ridge Estate – Cabernet Sauvignon
Canoe Ridge Estate – Merlot
Cold Creek Vineyard – Cabernet Sauvignon
Cold Creek Vineyard – Merlot
Cold Creek Vineyard – Cabernet Franc

After we sampled the third glass we were served a small fruit and cheese plate.

Once we tasted each of the 5 wines we were free to start blending.  Everyone had a 100 ml graduated cylinder that we filled to a total of 100ml by mixing any combination of the wines we had been tasting.  We could mix 2, 3, 4 or all 5 of the wines.  We filled the cylinder from the large casks on the wall.  Once our initial blend was complete and poured into a glass, we tasted it and then were free to make any adjustments and try again.  We were free to repeat this process as many times as we wanted, but no one in our group did it more than twice.

When we were finally satisfied with our blend, Nick calculated the ratio needed to fill a standard 750 ml wine bottle.  Using a large 1000 ml beaker, we proceeded to draw the correct amount of each wine using the markings on the beaker.

Once complete, we transferred our blend into a wine bottle which was affixed with a label of our own creation.  Colored markers were available to create our labels.

The bottle of wine can be consumed in any venue without a corkage fee.  The whole process took about 90 minutes.

We had a good time doing the Blend and its enjoyment is much more from the group interactions than the blending itself.

Step One Dance Company performed “Humanity” on the World Stage this evening.  This is my favorite of all their wonderful shows.