KWPR
Still learning
Hi all. I bottled my first batch of Zinfandel yesterday and it didn't taste good. I'm not talking about spoilage, just lousy tasting wine. Should I have dumped it or is there hope?
First batch of Zinfandel
- Thread starter KWPR
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
There is nothing wrong with bottle aging and aging most of the time helps. Frankly though I never bottle something I don't like. I'll let it age in the carboy or blend it or make test trial adjustments. It's bottled now so I would just let it go and see what happens. Just my opinion.
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2011
- Messages
- 6,112
- Reaction score
- 10,838
Once bottled, you lose all control over the future, you got what you got. It might get better. That hasn't been my experience, but who knows.
Scooter68
Fruit "Wine" Maker
Just bottled it. How old, details on recipe, starting & Finishing SG, pH etc ? Hard to assist without something more than "it didn't taste good" & "just lousy tasting wine"
Your description can be exactly correct but how it got there, how long it's aged, recipe and measurements are all essential to provide realistic help.
Your description can be exactly correct but how it got there, how long it's aged, recipe and measurements are all essential to provide realistic help.
KWPR
Still learning
Thank you for your replies. Here are the details of our Zinfandel (didn't know I should have put these on my original post)
We picked 200 lbs on 10/12/18
Labs were 27.3 brix 3.32 pH and .70 TA
Pressed 10/22 – ended up with 13 gallons
Did our first racking probably too late – didn’t know it should be done in a day or two (can’t find my notes on exact date)
Used 3 Xoaker French medium+ toast balls per 3 gallon carboy
Added ½ g malo bacteria for all 13 gallons on 11/2
After malo was done we racked again and added Camden tablets (dissolved)
Testing on 05/31 showed pH 3.87, TA .55 and Alcohol 13.71
Free SO2 was 41 mg/L on 07/13
September 3rd we added 3.5g Laffort Autolees and 1.75g Quer Choc Tannin to the whole batch
Tasted one carboy on 9/24 and it was pretty good
When we bottled we dumped one of the 3 gal carboys because it tasted bad. We thought about dumping the first case we bottled after the fact for the same reason. Tasted the other carboys and although nothing to say “mmm” about they weren’t as bad as the first two so we bottled those with the hope that time in the bottle would improve the taste.
We picked 200 lbs on 10/12/18
Labs were 27.3 brix 3.32 pH and .70 TA
Pressed 10/22 – ended up with 13 gallons
Did our first racking probably too late – didn’t know it should be done in a day or two (can’t find my notes on exact date)
Used 3 Xoaker French medium+ toast balls per 3 gallon carboy
Added ½ g malo bacteria for all 13 gallons on 11/2
After malo was done we racked again and added Camden tablets (dissolved)
Testing on 05/31 showed pH 3.87, TA .55 and Alcohol 13.71
Free SO2 was 41 mg/L on 07/13
September 3rd we added 3.5g Laffort Autolees and 1.75g Quer Choc Tannin to the whole batch
Tasted one carboy on 9/24 and it was pretty good
When we bottled we dumped one of the 3 gal carboys because it tasted bad. We thought about dumping the first case we bottled after the fact for the same reason. Tasted the other carboys and although nothing to say “mmm” about they weren’t as bad as the first two so we bottled those with the hope that time in the bottle would improve the taste.
chicken
Member
Since it's already bottled, you have nothing to lose by letting it age awhile in the bottle to see if it improves. We've definitely had some wines we weren't so sure about that improved after about a year.
