WineXpert What happened to my wonderful Riesling

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JeffZ

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I bottled a WE world Riesling 7 months ago. After 1-3 months, it was truly wonderful to drink - tasty, smooth, and balanced.

It was stored properly, on its side, in a normal temperature range. For some reason, it started turning 'bad' around 5 months. Developed a slightly 'chemical' taste. Sharper and not pleasant. Even after allowing to breath for a few hours.

The temperature did drop once in the storage room just for a couple days - but didn't freeze. Could that have done it?

Any ideas??? Could it be going through a 'growth phase"? My other 6 varieties are all good - just the Riesling. Thanks.
 
I had something similar happen with a Gewurztraminer many years ago (my second batch). I believe it was because I didn't sanitize the bottles properly. In my case at the end of the batch, some bottles were OK, but most literally stunk (smell and taste). I hadn't understand sanitizing properly. I used pink powder (Diversol) which is an effective sanitizer if the bottles are soaked for minimum 20-30 minutes. I didn't soak them at all.

Steve
 
Thanks Steve.
I'm pretty meticulous in sanitizing both the carboy and bottles. I start with oxyclean soaking overnight, then run bottles through dishwater without detergent - just to steam clean a little, and finally clean using starsan. But something went wrong. Weird.
 
Do you have any idea what your SO2 level was before bottling? Could have spoiled from lack of Kmeta. Those German style wine kits seem to ferment out at a lower alcohol level which can contribute to spoilage.

Terry
 
Do you have any idea what your SO2 level was before bottling? Could have spoiled from lack of Kmeta. Those German style wine kits seem to ferment out at a lower alcohol level which can contribute to spoilage.

Terry

My thoughts also. On many of my kits I have seen a statement that essentially says if you aren't going to finish drinking in the next 6 months you should add extra K-meta at bottling time.
 
Thanks everyone. No i didn't know the SO2 level. I always thought that every wine kit would improve over time. And 7 months is not very old - even for a white.

Is there any chance the corks were 'bad'. I did not sterilize the corks - I usually just soak in clean water before bottling. Can't think of anything else.
 

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