My Red Wine is Fizzy

[Pino]

Hello...glad to be part of this forum. I am hoping you would be able to help with a major problem. After the fermentation was done in our 72L vessels ( verified by our hydrometer and by our local wine making store), the wine was perfect. The wine was then filtered and kept in the vessels for close to 2 years (filtration was also done during that period). We then bottled the wine (288 bottles), after we bottled it, the wine has now become fizzy on the tongue and became very alcoholic. Is it a bacteria? Please help!

Pino

 

[Arne]

First of all, welcome to the forum. Second, did you sweeten the wine? If so, for some reason you probably have a referment going on. Otherwise, you may have a spontanious MLF going on. {Maloactic fermentation} Not sure I spelled that right. Just a guess. Arne.

 

[robie]

Welcome to the forum. The fizz is likely CO2 gas.

Need some questions answered. Wine type? Sweetened? From fresh grapes, frozen grapes, or kit?

Otherwise, decanting the wine for a couple hours, or until the aroma starts coming through will help.

 

[roadpupp]

Use a vac u vin hand pump on each bottle as you open it. This is meant to take air out of half filled bottles but it will also degass full bottles with CO2. It is an extra step each time but better than drinking sparkling wine.

 

[Tom_S]

You didn't mention anything about degassing, but I'd have thought that after aging 2 years it shouldn't have much fizz left in it. However, every batch is different. Was it left in the vessels 2 years with an airlock or were they airtight?

 

[italianwine]

I think you have not sweeten the wine properly...

 

[Bartman]

I have no idea why a two-year aged wine would suddenly become fizzy - surely you didn't back-sweeten a dry wine and then age it for two years? That seems unlikely and strange - I don't care for them, but back-sweetened wines are usually quick-drinkers, and aging can be dangerous. Did you add potassium sorbate after sweetening (if you back-sweetened) and then age for two years? Not sure that sorbate will continue to protect the wine after two years, but I don't do sweet wines.
Something else occurs to me - how do you know it has become 'very alcoholic'? Is it because the taste is 'hotter' or did you check the SG on the hydrometer after opening a bottle? What was the SG when bottling and what was it after opening a bottle (after it has become more alcoholic)? If it has indeed become more alcoholic, then I would guess you back-sweetened and the sweetener has fermented in the bottle.

 

[Julie]

Bartman, you really should not critize sweet wines just because you do not drink them. There are a lot of members here who enjoy sweet wines. I have a peach wine that is going on two years and is tasting better as it ages.

 

[Arne]

Kinda wish he would come back on and let us know what happened. See if any of our answers helped. Arne.

 

[Bartman]

Bartman, you really should not criticize sweet wines just because you do not drink them. There are a lot of members here who enjoy sweet wines. I have a peach wine that is going on two years and is tasting better as it ages.

I really wasn't intending to criticize sweet wines - I have had a few that were okay, just not my cup of tea. I was just saying I don't "do sweet wines" so I don't really have much experience to offer for advice.
Since he titled the thread "My Red Wine is Fizzy," I assumed he was making a dry red wine, which started to re-ferment after bottling. If those assumptions are correct, then I have no idea what the cause of the fizziness would be. But, if he bulk-aged a dry red and then back-sweetened it before bottling, I can only surmise that the back-sweetening re-started fermentation. I still think that back-sweetening a traditionally dry red (such as a Cab. Sauv.) would be a strange approach and ill-advised, based on wines I have tasted that were made that way. If you are dissatisfied/disappointed with a dry Cabernet after two years of aging, do you think back-sweetening the whole batch at bottling time would be your best bet to salvage it?
If he wanted to make a sweet red wine, I wouldn't be critical of that, but I see no reason to age it for two years - any subtlety or nuance would be covered by the sweetness, wouldn't it?

 

[Sarobinson]

I make wine to a little bit redneck but it works any way the wine I made is sweet and its fizzy I am thinking I dint wait long enough while I was fermenting I haven gotten sick so I Guss its all ok lol I just want to know what y'all think

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I had a similar problem when I started to make wine without the use of sulfites and it started going thru malotic fermentation and bottles were blowing off every where !! My wife almost made me stop making wine at that moment !!! but the hallway needed to be repainted anyways I told her.

 

[seth8530]

Hello...glad to be part of this forum. I am hoping you would be able to help with a major problem. After the fermentation was done in our 72L vessels ( verified by our hydrometer and by our local wine making store), the wine was perfect. The wine was then filtered and kept in the vessels for close to 2 years (filtration was also done during that period). We then bottled the wine (288 bottles), after we bottled it, the wine has now become fizzy on the tongue and became very alcoholic. Is it a bacteria? Please help!

Pino

We want to help, but as the others have said we need more information.

 

[GreginND]

i also suspect ML fermentation. I note that the original poster joined in December, posted this question and then has never returned. Not sure how much we can help in that case.