Bad wine

[uavwmn]

I need some slueth wine detective help.

I have had maybe 3 or 4 bottles total out of various kit wines that taste "bad". Recently I gave a bottle of chardonnay to two co-workers. One of the co-workers told me it tasted almost like a vinegar! The other co-worker loved it and the bottle (or 2) that I drank was wonderful. I had an experience with a red that tasted bad also.

Could it be a tainted cork? Maybe a bottle that didn't get cleaned and sanitized as good as the others??
I am at a loss.

PS, I have since been soaking my corks in the sanitizing solution.

 

[Tom]

Well ,
I had a boss that when tasted my wine he said it tasted like vinegar. Well to find out he is not a wine drinker and thought the high alcohol smell was vinegar.
Was the person who didn't like it a wine "snob" or a BEER drinker.


No need to soak corks in meta. Rather make a "corka door" Place corks in a pot or bucket and insert in the middle a jar of full strength meta. The "fumes" not contact will sanitize the corks

 

[AlFulchino]

to add to what Tepe said.....additionally you might consider decanting the wine to rid it of some of the alcohol nose that it may have...sometimes it come across as tepe said...as vinegary

 

[uavwmn]

tepe, actually she is more of a beer drinker but does enjoy wine. She was drinking this Chardonnay chilled. The other co-worker and myself drank it at room temperature. I am really at a loss as to what it could be.
as for the corks, do you attach a lid to this pot for the fumes to take effect? And what is "full strength" meta as mine comes in a powder form.


thanks for the response.

 

[Tom]

3 tbls per gallon of meta is full strength. once made you can keep it under air lock for a long time and can reuse many times.
Yes attach lid. What I do when bottling I get 60 corks in a insert put that in a pot with some meta and a lid. I then go about spritzing the wine bottles and put on my bottling tree. fill the bottles and by that time the fumes from the meta will have sanitized the corks. This way no need to "soak / boil" them.

 

[Wade E]

What kind of corks did you use and how old were the bottles? Also what conditions do you store your bottles in? I received a bottle from a friend here awhile ago that went south due to bad corks as he bought them on Ebay pretty cheap. I only buy Georges Perfect agglomerate corks now due to that and a few problems I had with some corks I bought locally. Soaking corks is not a good practice as the corks can deteriorate due to that. The best practice for corks is to use a corkidor but next to that is to use a collandor over bucket and pour some k meta solution over the corks and then put the lid on for about 5 minutes to let the k meta gases sanitize the corks.

 

[uavwmn]

Wade, "how old are the bottles"?? I rinse out the empty bottles and store them on a wine rack. I only buy Georges' corks. I soak them in kmeta only long enough to fll the bottles during bottling process. I will definitely do the corkidor next time.
Like I said, this has only happened maybe 3 times out of probably 20 kits made. It just "bugs me" that I get a bad bottle every once in awhile.

 

[Wade E]

As in how aged is the wine, has it been in your cellar for 3 years or 3 months? Are these Georges perfect agglomerate corks because if so I highly dough its the corks. If the corks were natural then Id be inclined to say it was the corks.

 

[uavwmn]

Wade, the wine has been in the bottles 13 months, stored in a wine rack in a hallway with temps approx 76 degrees.