Color settled to bottom

[speedy5966]

Hi! This is a question about something that happened a few years ago, and I thought that someone here might know what happened. Several years ago, my brother made five gallons of wine from wild cherries. He used the "just water, sugar and fruit" method. No chemicals, no additives, just those three ingredients. After it was done, he racked and bottled it. It was too sweet, but otherwise tasted pretty good. In one of the bottles, however, all of the color literally curdled up and fell to the bottom of the bottle. It smelled just fine, though none of had the courage to taste it. The wine in that bottle was absolutely clear, like water. I can only assume that there was some sort of contaminant in the bottle, but I am curious as to what it may have been.
Ideas anybody?
Thanks!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Speedy since you said it only happened to one bottle and all the rest were ok, I have to agree with you. It sounds like me that bottle had something going on in it before you filled it. What did you clean and sanitize the bottles with? Is it possible he used some kind of soap or chemicaL and this is the one bottle that did not get rinsed well?

I have had some color fall out of reds in the past over time. For this very reason I add 1 ml per gallon of gum arabic before bottling.