Flying Leap Vineyards and Distillery’s Mark Beres takes us inside his brandy blending process.
Earlier this year, we featured the insights from a number of whiskey makers on their respective blending processes. This time, we turn our attention to another barrel-aged spirit, albeit one that doesn’t enjoy the same spotlight as its grain-based cousin: brandy. Specifically, we asked Mark Beres, president and CEO of Flying Leap Vineyards and Distillery in Elgin, Arizona, about his own best blending practices. Beres co-founded Flying Leap with friends and fellow U.S. Air Force Academy alumni Mark Moeller and Tom Kitchens in 2010, initially focusing solely on winemaking before branching out into distilling in 2016. If there’s one thing Beres knows, it’s the nuances of grapes, all the way from the vine, to the barrel, to the bottle.
CRAFT SPIRITS magazine: When it comes to blending brandy for a final release, what have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned?
Mark Beres: Since 2018, we’ve been blending grape brandies and grappas (invecchiatas—cask aged grappa) made exclusively from Ugni Blanc wine grapes grown and hand-harvested from our Block 3 vineyard in southeastern Arizona’s Kansas Settlement region about 90 minutes east of Tucson. The process always starts with selecting the right barrel lots, then tasting and writing detailed notes on each sample. We blend for complexity above all—depth of flavor is the goal. Because we age our brandy at 72% ABV, it comes out of the barrel hot, so we’ve learned that cutting in 10–15% increments is the best way to reveal the nuances we’re looking for. Oak aging is everything in brandy, and there’s simply no substitute for time. At the 10-year mark, a brandy is a profoundly different spirit than it was just two to four years earlier, with layers of aroma and flavor that only patient cellaring can deliver.
Is there a significant difference in the process/technique of blending brandy vs. whiskey (or other spirits)?
There is, and it derives from the higher barrel proof of fruit spirits. Aging fruit brandies (such as grape-based eaux-de-vie) at a higher proof, around 72 percent ABV, is essential to preserving the spirit’s delicate character. Fruit distillates carry fine, volatile aromas and flavors—floral notes, fresh and dried fruit tones, and subtle earthy undertones—that can be lost if the spirit is aged at too low a strength. The higher proof helps concentrate these volatile compounds while slowing the rate of oak extraction, allowing the natural fruit essence to remain at the forefront. It also encourages a more gradual integration of gentle spice, tannin, and structure from the cask, resulting in a bright, elegant, and layered spirit.
In contrast, whiskies—distilled from grains—are inherently more robust, with heavier congeners and a deeper flavor base. They are typically barreled at lower strengths (we age ours at 58% ABV), to promote faster integration with oak, enhance sweetness, and round out grain-derived flavors. The lower proof in whiskey aging allows caramelized wood sugars from heavily charred American oak to meld quickly with the spirit, producing a rich, full-bodied profile. In short, high-proof brandy aging safeguards finesse and aromatic complexity, while lower-proof whiskey aging amplifies warmth, depth, and sweetness.
What are the key tools and techniques you use when blending?
Our senses and our notes! We begin with a careful selection of barrels in our cellar, drawing samples from each one that we think has the potential to contribute to the final profile. Every sample is tasted and evaluated in a quiet, neutral setting, and we keep detailed tasting notes describing aroma, palate, mouthfeel, and finish. These notes become our guide during the blending process, helping us identify which barrels bring fruit, which offer structure, and which add spice or complexity.
We use graduated cylinders and pipettes to measure precise proportions during bench trials, allowing us to experiment with different ratios on a small scale before committing to the final blend. We even warm our brandy samples to enhance the bouquet during testing. Glass beakers and sample bottles are essential for holding trial blends, which we taste multiple times over several days to assess integration and balance. Once the ideal combination is identified, the blend is scaled up, often with a resting period to allow the components to marry fully before bottling. This process combines both technical precision and sensory intuition, ensuring each blend is true to our vision and style.
Where does proofing factor into your blends?
We always create and evaluate our bench trials at the target bottling strength, because proof has a direct impact on how aromas and flavors present themselves in the glass. A spirit that tastes balanced at cask strength can shift noticeably once reduced, with certain notes becoming more prominent while others recede. By proofing trial blends early, we ensure we are judging the same spirit our customers will eventually enjoy.
Once we scale up to production volume, we reduce the spirit gradually, often in stages over several days or weeks, to allow the alcohol and water to integrate naturally. This slow proofing helps maintain clarity, stability, and a harmonious mouthfeel. In the case of brandy, where we work with delicate fruit character, proofing is handled with particular care to preserve aromatic intensity and avoid muting the fine nuances that define the style.
What are some of the biggest challenges related to blending brandy?
Preserving the delicate fruit character that defines the spirit. Grape-based eaux-de-vie carry fine aromatic compounds that can be easily overshadowed if the blend leans too heavily toward barrels with dominant oak, spice, or tannin. Achieving harmony between the natural fruit expression and the structural elements from the cask requires a careful hand and precise proportioning.
Another challenge is the variability between barrels; even when filled on the same day with spirit from the same distillation, each cask can develop differently depending on grain tightness, toast level, storage position, and subtle environmental factors. Balancing these differences to create a cohesive, consistent profile takes patience and a disciplined tasting process.
High-proof maturation adds complexity as well—managing alcohol integration without losing aromatic finesse demands slow, measured adjustments during proofing. Finally, brandy blending often requires resisting the temptation to overcomplicate the final product; too many competing components can blur the clarity of the fruit, so knowing when to stop is as important as knowing how to start.
Describe your blending process, using a recent release as an example.
For our latest VSOP brandy, we blended select barrels from 2016, 2017, and 2018, all distilled from Grenache and Marsanne grapes grown in our Blocks 1 and 2 vineyards. Each lot was fermented and distilled as a full grape slurry of juice, seeds, skins, and stems—a traditional method we used until 2019—which gave the spirit extra depth, texture, and complexity. We eventually abandoned this technique because of the intense labor it required, but the brandies made this way are truly special.
Over time, each barrel developed its own character, from bright and floral to rich and spicy. We spent days tasting, mixing, and fine-tuning until we found the perfect balance. Once the recipe was set, we blended the casks together, slowly proofed the spirit down to bottling strength, and let it rest so the flavors could fully marry. The result is a smooth, elegant brandy that reflects both the character of our vineyards and the layered richness gained from years in French oak.
Is there anything you wish you’d done differently or have there been any happy accidents that turned out to be something great?
While there’s nothing in our most recent brandy blending that we’d go back and change, we did have one memorable “happy accident” during the process. As we were identifying barrels of brandy for the VSOP blend, we came across a cask that had been quietly aging in the barrel house for a decade. It turned out to be a vodka we had put into one of our brandy casks many years ago and then completely forgotten about.
Over 10 years, the spirit had transformed into something remarkable, picking up subtle color, aroma, and flavor from the oak. It wasn’t part of the brandy blend, but it was a fun and unexpected discovery that added a little extra excitement to the work of building the release. Sometimes, the barrel house holds surprises that remind you just how unpredictable—and rewarding—this craft can be.
How many different barrels/ages go into a specific blend?
Depends of course on production needs, but we generally blend in 1,000-liter batches, so 8 to 12 casks is usually the number we take from the cellar when we produce a brandy.