Diagnosis

I bottled a home grown 2012 Syrah about two years ago. It was first attempt at making wine using my own grapes. The flavor was off, like it was oxidized. Only had a dozen bottles; so I put it in storage, laying down, until this week when I decided to try it again and,if still bad, dump the wine and save the bottles.

It had not improved, so I poured it all down the sink. All the bottles had a heavy collection of some sediment on the bottom side of each bottle. The sediment would not rinse off, and the bottle brush just scratched at it. Finally, I put a little liquid bleach into a bottle, added water, and that cleaned it up easily.

Any thoughts on what fault in the wine would cause this to happen?

Thanks

First..

I advise you to never use bleach. Chlorine and wine do not mix. Instead, use some liquid automatic dishwashing detergent. Just a drop or two and then add some hot water. That sediment will simply melt off.

As far as the fault in the wine. It could be any number of things. I would check that the closure (seal) was a good one, check that the PH levels were not off, and check the amount of k-meta used.

Wondering if you added any Sulfite at all to the wine?

there is a good chance the residue in the bottle was tannin.

... Or spent tannins. This is why I asked about the closure he used.

JohnT said:

First..

I advise you to never use bleach. Chlorine and wine do not mix. Instead, use some liquid automatic dishwashing detergent. Just a drop or two and then add some hot water. That sediment will simply melt off.

As far as the fault in the wine. It could be any number of things. I would check that the closure (seal) was a good one, check that the PH levels were not off, and check the amount of k-meta used.

Click to expand...

I corked that wine using a double handed portable corker which can handle only 8 mm corks. Subsequently, I acquired a floor model which can handle 9 mm. However, the wine was only in the bottle two years and I don't think there was anything wrong with the seals.

Ironically, last evening my wife discovered a 1999 Fairplay, CA Zin that had gotten misplaced. We opened it, but is was just too old. I noticed that there was some residue adhering to the side of that bottle; but not nearly as much as the wines I discarded.

As to the bleach, that's good advice. However, I did not need to use the bleach cleaned bottles this year. Presumably, if they are properly sanitized next year, they won't pose a problem.

That 2012 Syrah was the first wine that I made; and, "mistakes were made." (Sounds like a politician.) Before racking, it tasted OK and had alcohol. I paid little attention to the finer details such as ph and k-meta.

Thanks for the advice.

Can you provide more specifics?

What was your process? How long did you bulk age?
Are you sure that the wine is oxidized?

You make no mention of use of k-meta, testing PH, or adjusting acid. What was the initial Brix? What yeast did you use?

If you could provide a more details on exactly how you made your wine we can much better help you.