First white wine tastes disgusting

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blumentopferde

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Hey there!

I'm in trouble with winemaking!

I just finished my first bottle of homebrewn white wine and it just tastes disgusting!

But from the beginning:
- I had a spraying accident in my wineyard and burnt a lot of leaves, so less clusters formed and they formed later than usual.
- I let them ripe longer than usual - until late October - so I still got almost ripe berries.
- Many berries were already rotten, so I cut these out and just left the healthy ones.
- In the end a handfull of healthy berries remaining which I crushed.
- I let the crushed berries in the refridgerator overnight (I've heard that this might intensify the taste), and squeezed them the next day.
- Then I added a starter culture made from apple juice to the grape juice.
- As I had an incredibly small batch of grape juice the starter culture would make about 1/3 of the whole batch
- I covered the must with enological oil to protect it from oxidation, as I've heard that oxidation would destroy fruity aromas.
- I put the whole thing in the refridgerator at 8°C and let it ferment.
- I used cold tolerant yeast (I've read that this would create better taste) and - unbelievable but true - the fermentation really got up to 9% Vol Alc.
- Then I took the batch out of the refridgerator, filled it into a new bottle and tried to reinitialize the fermentation with new yeast.
- It took a while until I figured out that there was no more sugar left in the batch and that was why the fermentation stopped.
- Then I added some sugar and let it ferment until 12% Alc under room temperature.
- Once again i filled it into a new bottle and put it into the refridgerator to clear.
- It took incredibly long, more than half a year, to get the wine clear.
- Now I filled it into a bottle.
- But before I tasted it, and it tasted HORRIBLE:

In spite of the high acid and low sugar content the wine tastes sweetish, thick and blunt. It actually tasted like that all the time from the beginning, that's why I didn't figured out that there was no sugar left any more.

Now I wonder where this taste comes from.

Is it the grape material? Did I use too much yeast? Too much apple juice? Or was it the cold fermentation?
What do you think?
 
Last edited:
Here's a short photostory of the littlebatch of horror:

The grapes before pressing: Yes, that's just about 250g!



The must after pressing:


the wine after fermentation:


The final product after clearing:
 
Looks like it could be oxidized, hard to tell from the bottle. What kind of grapes did you use? What was the initial and final gravities? Did you add So2? Which yeast strains did you use? Kind of a complicated question really.

What kind of smell and taste does it have? I know you said not good, but perhaps more detail might help us help you out a bit more.
 
Looks like it could be oxidized, hard to tell from the bottle. What kind of grapes did you use? What was the initial and final gravities? Did you add So2? Which yeast strains did you use? Kind of a complicated question really.

What kind of smell and taste does it have? I know you said not good, but perhaps more detail might help us help you out a bit more.

- I was very careful about oxidation, had the vine covered with neutral enological oil all the time and used SO2 from the beginning.
- I'm not quite sure about the variety but I think it's Riesling.
- Didn't measure the gravities. Just didn't have the equipment back then. But I can say that it doesn't taste unripe.
- I used "cold resistant" yeast of a german manufacturer which is quite popular amongst hobby winemakers in Europe.
- The taste is weird, thick, sweetish, and that in spite of 0,9% acid and 0,9% sugar which should make a dry wine. It doesn't taste like wine, more like glycerine.
 
Can you tell me more about this "neutral enological oil" ? This is not a technique I have heard much about before. Perhaps it is possible you have some in your wine?
 
I also thought about that possibility.
It's an oil that you can put on your must to cover it against oxidation. It's supposed to be neutral in taste and not to affect the must. In the end you will pull the wine out between the oil on top and the debris on the ground. There will remain some traces of oil though as you cannot remove the wine without penetrating the oily surface.

I've used it before once, and it didn't affect the taste. It was elderberrywine though, which has a very intensive taste, so it is still possible, that it still affects the taste of a less intensive wine...

So... could be, but I'm not yet convinced ;)
 
Seth,

My grandfather used to use this oil. It was used mostly when bottles were hard to come by. A family made a barrel of wine and slowly drained it over the course of a year.

The oil, added to the wine, floats to the surface. The theory is that this layer of oil will impede the contact of air to wine.

Unfortunately, it only slows down the oxidation process and does not really prevent it.


Blumen,

It seems to me that you played with it way too much. It is also very hard to make a single 750ml bottle of wine.

My advice is to try making a 2 liter batch with a proper fermentation trap next time. Use only good quality grapes.

Purchase a hydrometer. This is very inexpensive and will tell you if you have any more sugar in your wine.

Use good quality wine yeast.

Use potassiummetabisulfite. This will also help protect your wine.
 
You're right, I experimented far too much with that wine. I should have started with a "regular" batch first. This year I should have enough grape material for a larger batch and much more equipment. Hope this will make everything work out better!
 
That's wonderful.

Stay close to this web site. Ask a lot of questions when you have them.
In the end, you will be much better off.
 
along with specific gravity measurement I would also suggest a acid test kit. If Riesling is picked late as in your case, the acid profile can be very low, thus the blunt flab taste. I would pick the Riesling earlier possible with a brix of 16-18, this would have better acid, then add sugar to 12% alcohol, a brix of 22 or sg=1.092. ferment in a open bucket with just a cloth cover. if you want to keep it cool place use a carboy as a fermenter in a water bath, add ice or frozen water bottles. drape the fermenter with a towel, keep it wet and run a fan onto the wet cloth it will keep the wine at about 65Deg F during fermentation. good luck
 

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