WineXpert Almost 2 year old LE 19 South Africa Cape Blend is now Tasting Off

[RiderEh]

Hi All,

I have a 2019 LE South Africa Cape Blend in which I still have quite a few bottles left. I've been drinking it slowly, though we typically don't start into our wines until 12-18 months. It's been a good wine until a bottle I tried this weekend, it tasted super alchoholic. Very Alchohol forward and lost a lot of it's charachter. We used synthetic corks.

The one thing with this wine, is we experimented and did not add sorbate or k-meta. We did this to see if it would impact the wife, who typically gets headaches after 2 glasses of red.
Could this have done it? Or maybe it's our first bad bottle. I did not try opening a second bottle.

Anyways I've been making wine since 2013, so if this is just a bad bottle, that won't be bad!

 

[cmason1957]

Not adding the sorbate probably had little to no impact on the agebility, but the not adding Kmeta may well have. Do you have any idea what the final Ph of the wine was. If it was much above 3.7 or 3.8 then no (or little) amount of Kmeta could well impact the aging of this wine.

 

[RiderEh]

No, I do not typically check the Ph of my wine. I did not realize the k-meta would affect it that much, it's such a small packet hah. I may try to open a bottle soon and have a glass.

I'm also finding this and the Forza seemed to drop a lot of fines in the bottle at about 2 years, previously I never had wines do that as much as these two. I do not filter my wine and typically bottle at about 4 months.

 

[winemaker81]

I'm also finding this and the Forza seemed to drop a lot of fines in the bottle at about 2 years, previously I never had wines do that as much as these two. I do not filter my wine and typically bottle at about 4 months.

You might try bulk aging the reds a bit longer, 6 to 8 months. That gives the wine time to drop fine sediment (I don't filter either).

K-meta can make a huge difference in shelf life. In the distant past I purchased wines from "organic" wineries that did not include sulfite. None of these wines lasted more than 6 months on my shelf, and all were ~1 yo when purchased. While I cannot say this short of a span is true for all non-sulfite wines, it was enough of a bummer for me that I don't skimp on K-meta. YMMV

 

[Bossbaby]

I just bottled up this same south african kit today, i only bulk aged it 2 months after the 8 week timeline, The flavor is not what I was quite expecting even for a young kit wine, up front it wasn't bad but has a rather bitter finish. I'm really hoping this improves with time. I was trying to clear up some room in the cellar for a couple juice buckets but now think I should have left this one alone. does anyone else have experience with this kit, curious how it tasted early on and how it may have improved over time.

 

[ratflinger]

I filter into my bulk ageing carboys, and to tell the truth there is not much difference in the amount of fine sediments, but I like the polished look. I never bottle or keg before 7 months and it's only my longer term in the bottles. I've just had so-so tastes with the high-end kits after 3 years, I've found that after about 18 months in the bottle you'd better start sampling them and drink when they are ready. I had a Mosti All-Juice Malbec Gentile kit that just tasted plain muddy after 3 years, so I've quit bothering. Taste & go, no more minimum times for me.

 

[RiderEh]

When a wine does go 'off' due to ageing, is it typical to taste over alchoholic? Or does not adding the k-meta result in this with age? k-meta reduces oxygenation from natural cork is my understanding, I don't know why it would affect this synthetic bottle after 2 years.

 

[Chuck E]

When a wine does go 'off' due to ageing, is it typical to taste over alchoholic? Or does not adding the k-meta result in this with age? k-meta reduces oxygenation from natural cork is my understanding, I don't know why it would affect this synthetic bottle after 2 years.

The way I look at it is that when you bottle it "freezes" the wine in time. Smaller changes occur with age. I typically bulk age reds 1 to 2 years before bottling. Whites about a year. I don't think whites can be aged extremely long term as reds, but I do have some German whites in my collection from the 1970's.

The "hot" taste could be aldehyde related if you were not minding the sulfites.

 

[winemaker81]

When a wine does go 'off' do to ageing, is it typical to taste over alchoholic? Or does not adding the k-meta result in this with age? k-meta reduces oxygenation from natural cork is my understanding, I don't know why it would affect this synthetic bottle after 2 years.

Light on the bottle can produce oxidation, and there is simply natural aging of the wine. Wine goes through chemical changes throughout its lifespan, peaking and declining. K-meta binds to a wide variety of contaminants (I use that term as I don't know of a better one), protecting the wine and extending its lifespan, but not infinitely.

A lot of the discussion on this forum may give folks an unrealistic view of wine. 90% of the world's wine production is intended for consumption within 3 years -- this statistic has been fairly consistent, regardless of the source.

Why? A large part is 'cuz most people are not crazy enough to wait 3 years to drink wine. Folks on this forum are often not normal.

Another is that it takes a combination of exceptional ABV, acid, sugar, general body, and storage conditions for a wine to be long aging. Add to that varietal and white vs. red. Wine grapes are grown differently from table grapes, as they need to be higher quality. Any wine made from "normal" fruit is less likely to have aging ability, and not all wine grapes have it, either.

However, longevity is not necessarily predictable. I chaptalized a Island Mist kit to 10.5% ABV for a bit longer life, and the last 2 bottles were consumed at the 7 year mark, and were great. If you asked me if a low-end Island Mist kit would last that long, I'd have probably laughed. But something in the mix worked.

IMO the answer is to pay attention to each wine, taste a bottle periodically along the way to what is believed to be the peak aging period, and drink it when it's good. I try to keep in mind that when a wine is at its peak, that means it's going to decline from there forward, so hanging onto those last bottles is not a good idea. It's all a judgment call.

 

[She’sgonnakillme]

For me, after this amount of time if it's not tasting good, I cut my losses, dump it in the garden and free up cellar space for a better drinker

Life's too short to drink crappy wine!

 

[RiderEh]

Well, I tried another bottle and also was over alchoholy, I'm thinking the rest from this batch may be garden food as you suggest.

 

[Rocky]

Well, I tried another bottle and also was over alchoholy, I'm thinking the rest from this batch may be garden food as you suggest.

Just a suggestion (hate to see wine dumped), have you ever tried making sangria with the wine? With Summer approaching, it makes a nice refreshing drink. Lots of recipes on the net for both red and white wines. Just a thought.

I looked at a couple of recipes on the internet and many call for adding a fortifier, such as brandy or rum. Personally, I have never done so, and you may not have to either if your wine tastes alcoholic.

 

[RiderEh]

But if it tastes off, isn't it off? ie. if I drink it won't it make you sick, or does it just taste bad?

 

[Bossbaby]

I doubt it will make you sick if you have already drinken it and it was ok. I would not throw it out but like Rocky said make it into another drink with some fresh fruit juice and ice it could be good again.

 

[RiderEh]

Well I've had a few more bottles of this, and they seem fine. I think the wine is just quite acidic/dry which throws off the taste a bit. Especially after something like a Pinot Noir. It really depends what you eat with it too. I'm going to work on drinking this one up more quickly though.

 

[mwubbenhorst]

Hi All,

I have a 2019 LE South Africa Cape Blend in which I still have quite a few bottles left. I've been drinking it slowly, though we typically don't start into our wines until 12-18 months. It's been a good wine until a bottle I tried this weekend, it tasted super alchoholic. Very Alchohol forward and lost a lot of it's charachter. We used synthetic corks.

The one thing with this wine, is we experimented and did not add sorbate or k-meta. We did this to see if it would impact the wife, who typically gets headaches after 2 glasses of red.
Could this have done it? Or maybe it's our first bad bottle. I did not try opening a second bottle.

Anyways I've been making wine since 2013, so if this is just a bad bottle, that won't be bad!

I agree with what was responded for Kmeta. I also want to bring up the yeast. I have not used the yeasts that come with the kits for years now because those are very strong and burn through with a strong fermentation, but they also kill a lot of subtle flavors in the process leaving your wine with fewer flavor notes (more alcoholic, less interesting flavor).

 

[Jovimaple]

@mwubbenhorst Welcome to WMT! Just so you know, this thread is almost 2 years old.

I, too, now switch out the yeast on some kits. Fun to experiment and see what different yeast can do!

 

[MiBor]

Was it this Cape Blend?

 

[ratflinger]

I have had premium kit wines, treated with proper kmeta, that went south at 18 months.