Wine still has CO2 after bottling

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Applegrower

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Opened one of about 250 bottles of Norton bottled a couple weeks back and found some residual CO2 still present. To be sure an airtight seal was installed on the bottle and 24 hours later when it was gently removed a definite poof was evident. Since fermentation last September the wine has been in a basement in 3, 5, and 6 gallon carboys with airlocks. It was racked off of gross lees, again after mlf and once more for SO2 addition. During mlf the lees were raised every day via a drill powered stir stick until it was obvious mlf was underway. Since then it has remained undisturbed and appeared still, even through several mild temperature swings. The airlocks level would move up and down but no gas was observed to have escaped.

Any chance the cork will allow time to resolve this?

Might add that leaving the bottle uncorked over night made a big difference. Rats, this is disappointing!
 
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Nothing obvious. Started with a syphon wand that had the spring loaded tip (the type that always leaks) so some aeriation resulted in trying to get the tip depressed on the punt. Hard to say what was air or gas from the wine. Went to the Buon Vino bottle filler and once purged of air no off gassing was obvious as the bottles filled. The gas level is low, no 'crystals' in the glass bottom just an annoying tongue sensation.
 
I'm assuming you sufficiently sulfited the wine prior to bottling, which would prevent MLF in the bottle (if it hadn't completed earlier) and protect it from oxidation. Does the wine taste OK otherwise (no spoilage is underway)? If you decant the wine before drinking, is there CO2 foaming and does that resolve the sensation you get while drinking it? It sounds like the wine should have had any dissolved CO2 gone by the time it was bottled.

During mlf the lees were raised every day via a drill powered stir stick until it was obvious mlf was underway.

What were you looking at to consider MLF to be underway? MLF has always seemed to me to be rather subtle. I just dose the barrel with the MLF culture, bung it up with a burper bung and let it go for a month before doing the chromatography test. Besides, it is an anaerobic process and getting in there daily seems to be risking allowing acetobacter to get a foothold.
 
I'm assuming you sufficiently sulfited the wine prior to bottling, which would prevent MLF in the bottle (if it hadn't completed earlier) and protect it from oxidation. Does the wine taste OK otherwise (no spoilage is underway)? If you decant the wine before drinking, is there CO2 foaming and does that resolve the sensation you get while drinking it? It sounds like the wine should have had any dissolved CO2 gone by the time it was bottled.
Sorry left that out. Yes, wine was racked when SO2 was brought to 50ppm. Don't have my notes (@ work) to provide the time-line. For an early wine it is pretty decent, in fact, for a Norton the tannins are very much subdued for this early without finning. No foaming when pouring into a glass, it strictly an annoying mouth sensation.



What were you looking at to consider MLF to be underway? MLF has always seemed to me to be rather subtle. I just dose the barrel with the MLF culture, bung it up with a burper bung and let it go for a month before doing the chromatography test. Besides, it is an anaerobic process and getting in there daily seems to be risking allowing acetobacter to get a foothold.

Subtle air lock activity over a period of time (again, notes aren't handy), then when it appears the air locks are neutral, testing to see if it's below 10mg/L. The rousing of lees was from the advise of others after having trouble with a past wine completing mlf. It worked on the problem ferment so I used it again this time. Once the airlocks go positive I stop rousing, the point was I saw no foaming.
 
Obviously I blew it and the wine is now in bottles, except for 10 gallons that'll stay in carboys. Is decanting in the future the best solution? Plan was to leave things alone for about a year with a bottle being sampled occasionally to see how the wine is progressing. Is there any chance that along with the exchange wine has with O2 through a cork a reduction might be seen in the fizz?
 
Obviously I blew it and the wine is now in bottles, except for 10 gallons that'll stay in carboys. Is decanting in the future the best solution? Plan was to leave things alone for about a year with a bottle being sampled occasionally to see how the wine is progressing. Is there any chance that along with the exchange wine has with O2 through a cork a reduction might be seen in the fizz?

It’s not likely to lose the CO2 once bottled. When you open the next bottle, taste a bit to assess the CO2. Cover the opening of the bottle and shake, then release the CO2, taste again, that may knock it out if it’s not a lot. If not, try going into a decanter using an aerator, the agitation may do the trick. If not, there’s nothing wrong with some decanting time....
 

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