Hi – I am in the process of making my first batch of wine. I decided to go with a pinot noir cellar craft kit. I am currently in the final phase before the bottling step. So far I have followed the manufacturer’s instructions very closely (keeping in my that sterilization seems to be of utmost importance). I have fermented twice and racked three times. I decided to sample a bit last night as I noticed the wine has really cleared up in the past week (there is about a half inch of sediment in the bottom of my carboy). I know that after bottling the wine should rest for at least 3 months or longer. My curiosity got the best of me and I tasted some to try to get an indication of what I was in for. Well, the wine has a taste of sour to rotten grapes and it is almost as if I am making a sparkling wine… Does anybody have any suggestions or can maybe offer some encouragement that 3 months of aging in a bottle will help?
Thanks,
Joe
[quote=“Jcherepo”]Hi – I am in the process of making my first batch of wine. I decided to go with a pinot noir cellar craft kit. I am currently in the final phase before the bottling step. So far I have followed the manufacturer’s instructions very closely (keeping in my that sterilization seems to be of utmost importance). I have fermented twice
you only ferment once. the secondary and first rack is actually the finishing stages of the primary and only fermentation, as such.
and racked three times. I decided to sample a bit last night as I noticed the wine has really cleared up in the past week (there is about a half inch of sediment in the bottom of my carboy). I know that after bottling the wine should rest for at least 3 months or longer. My curiosity got the best of me and I tasted some to try to get an indication of what I was in for. Well, the wine has a taste of sour to rotten grapes
I am a huge fan of pinot noir and make a lot of it. weird that it tastes so bad… yet it is not finished yet either.
and it is almost as if I am making a sparkling wine…
most likely has a lot of gas!
Does anybody have any suggestions or can maybe offer some encouragement that 3 months of aging
let it sit upright for 3 days after corking and then lay them down. I have sipped many after bottling just to have something and let the others age. you would be surprised how nice it tastes at 1 1/2 - 2 years/ I have some almost 2 years old and maybe a bit older.
in a bottle will help?
Thanks,
Joe[/quote]
Thanks. Clearly I am new at this. I guess I need to de-gas? If so, do I need to transfer to a bucket in order to keep the sediment in my carboy from remixing?
if you degas - it will churn it up so leave it that much longer to re-settle. if you siphon and rack it off to another carboy that will work. you will still get a bit more sediment. also if you do not have another carboy - then a bucket will do - but I would say do not rack - degas and leave it to settle for a few weeks. since you added the isinglass or chitosan or whatever to the wine to clear you want it to work for you though it may be done by now. so racking would mess that up a bit (probably). hope this helps. good luck.
At the stage you are at the wine should taste OK. Not sure about the rotten taste. As far as sour goes, it will be quite sharp - especially with Pinot Noir as it is very acidic for red wine. With all the preservatives added with kit wine, I don’t see where it could really spoil - assuming primary fermentation seemed normal.
Time will soften the sharpness for sure, but I find it takes a little more time with Pinot Noir.
Degassing should have taken place before stabilization and fining of the wine and from the sounds of it you may not have done a thorough enough job. Although this has the potential to cause problems throughout the process, it is not likely to ruin a batch or anything.
If you are finding it too gassy, just leave it in the carboy for a much longer period of time. The gas will go away over time. I’m not big on the idea of degassing this late in the process, but it may be ok.
When you do go to degass a wine, it does not really need to be taken off the sediment. That stuff has alread fallen out of the wine. it will not mix back in. Everything will settle back out very quickly.
Thanks everyone for your help.
So I racked to a clean sterile bucket and degassed and then racked back into the carboy. Made a huge difference. I gave it about 2 weeks of sitting and then just bottled. The wine looks great (clear and clean). I did take a sample and it has a vinegar type taste (hard to put my finger on the exact taste)… Is this something that will flatten out with 6 months rest in the bottle, or have I done something terribly wrong in my process…
Just curious so I know for my next batch…
thanks for the help.
If there is a sharpness to the wine at this point, I’d say that is normal. Pinot noir is pretty acidic for red wine without a lot of structure to mask it. If this is what you are detecting it shouls soften with time.
However, if it really tastes like vinegar I might be a little worried. Once it is vinegar it cannot be saved.
On the bright side, a few weeks ago I had a customer comment on wine that was a little like vinegar. When he brought me a bottle it was sharper than it should have been at it’s age, but was definately not vinegaqr.
So right now, just wait and see. Give it a few months and try it again.
thanks for the help!
