# What was the worst wine you ever made?



## Rodnboro (Apr 3, 2017)

Looking through my log book, I see that I'm approaching my 100th batch of wine and was thinking back about some of my early disasters. The one that sticks out was a pineapple that I tried using canned pineapple juice with added canned pineapple chunks. I don't know what happened, but it smelled so bad that I couldn't even let it try to finish. It turns my stomach just to think about it. What's was your worst?


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## dralarms (Apr 3, 2017)

My worst was also pineapple. NASTY.


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## cmsben61 (Apr 3, 2017)

cranberry for me..


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## wineforfun (Apr 3, 2017)

+3 for pineapple


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 3, 2017)

So far, its my 2016 Chileans. All 4 of them.


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## heatherd (Apr 3, 2017)

My stinky South African Pinotage, and an Italian juice bucket that was incurably gross. Those are my only dumped batches to date.


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## Larryh86GT (Apr 3, 2017)

My most disappointing wine was cherry wine. It just did not taste like a cherry at all. I was not very crazy about blueberry wine either.


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## cmason1957 (Apr 3, 2017)

I tried a pumpkin wine one, never again. First one I poured out. Smelled bad, no idea about taste,i was afraid to.


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## cgallamo (Apr 3, 2017)

First time I made wine it was wild Muscadine. It is a legend in our house though, because I made the girls (four little girls ages 3-8) stomp the grapes barefoot. The acid started to burn their feet. I was so desperate for a solution to quiet them down I told them to put socks on. Another bad call! The lack of air to their feet made the pain worse.

The wine was super acidic, but somehow managed to also stink and turn to vinegar - VA? I still added sugar and drank it though.


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## Stressbaby (Apr 3, 2017)

Pumpkin. Not even close.


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## Minnesotamaker (Apr 3, 2017)

1st place: Dandelion. Runner up: Stinging nettle. 2nd runner up: corn (field) Honorable mention: carrot wheat


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## Minnesotamaker (Apr 3, 2017)

Whooooopsie!


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 3, 2017)

heatherd said:


> My stinky South African Pinotage, and an Italian juice bucket that was incurably gross. Those are my only dumped batches to date.



You ended up dumping the Pinotage? Awww...


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 3, 2017)

cgallamo said:


> i still added sugar and drank it though.



ha!!!!!!


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## Johny99 (Apr 3, 2017)

2014 Tempranillo. VA was so bad I dumped the lot and turned the barrel into a coffee table for the deck


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## Mismost (Apr 3, 2017)

A wine I made from OLD jam and jellies...type, age unknown. Brown wine is just not appealing and the taste was not much better. Effective...nice 13% ABV. Maybe my first dumper...but thought I'd give it bottle time and see what happens.

tried it again, another batch...still brown...added oak...added blueberry flavoring...so it is a slightly oaked blueberry smelling crappy brown wine....but, at the moment it is still better than the first batch.

Have lots more jellies and jams...no more wine batches....I'm slowly feeding it to the bees, they seem to really like it.


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## meadmaker1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Have lots more jellies and jams...no more wine batches....I'm slowly feeding it to the bees, they seem to really like it.[/QUOTE]

I hope ypu dont live near me. And dont buy any honey from your neighbors. 

Later in summer it wont end up in honey crop and bees can use the sugar then.


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## Merrywine (Apr 4, 2017)

I attempted a rice white, (not saki) but couldn't get the yeast balls, only a powdered yeast from the local Asian market. I just flushed the stinky, soupy mess today.


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## JohnT (Apr 4, 2017)

When I was 19, I attempted to make a current wine. I used pure current juice and did an open air, organic ferment on it. I added no sugar, yeast, or any type of nutrients. If there is a Hell, that would be the stuff they would be serving. YUK!!! 

If I were a bad man, a vindictive man, or a man that likes to "stir the pot" I would add that it still tasted better than Welch's. but I am not going to do that..


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## jburtner (Apr 4, 2017)

Oh yeah that reminds me about the early early years too! Gallon of koolaid with extra sugar and innoculated with bakers yeast. Baloon style airlock. Not really bad but no concept of clearing and racking. Certainly was bit by the bug fairly early 

Cheers!
-johann


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## NorCal (Apr 4, 2017)

My first; From Welches. The recipe said to add so much sugar, but I figured if that was good, then more is better. Ended up tasting like a cheap mixed drink.


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 4, 2017)

NorCal said:


> My first; From Welches. The recipe said to add so much sugar, but I figured if that was good, then more is better. Ended up tasting like a cheap mixed drink.



Did you sneak into @JohnT 's house to get that pic?


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## bkisel (Apr 4, 2017)

Mine was an all juice (23L) kit from MM. Believe, if memory serves me correctly, it was a Pinot Noir


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## Brian55 (Apr 4, 2017)

Coffee Port. Blah.


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## sour_grapes (Apr 4, 2017)

JohnT said:


> If I were a bad man, a vindictive man, or a man that likes to "stir the pot" I would add that it still tasted better than Welch's. but I am not going to do that..



Holy apophasis, Batman!


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## Rodnboro (Apr 4, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Holy apophasis, Batman!



Well I learned a new word today. I have a coworker that does this constantly. Next time I'll say: Brian, don't be so obviously apophasis!


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## Cxwgfamily (Apr 4, 2017)

all,

My worst wine was a Satsuma wine. It was my first batch. Followed the directions closely but did something wrong. Fermentation got stuck. I kept the must for a year and added another batch to it. Fermentation went well but the results were terrible. It tastes like you are drinking an almonded tree that has died. Runner up, fig wine. It has only been in the cellar for 6 months but it is not showing any promise. I still have my fingers crossed. but not it is terrible.

cxwgfamily


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## sour_grapes (Apr 4, 2017)

Rodnboro said:


> Well I learned a new word today. I have a coworker that does this constantly. Next time I'll say: Brian, don't be so obviously apophasis!



Or, you could say "Brian, I am not going to point out how annoying your use of apophasis is. I won't even bring up your constant use of paralipsis and how much it irks me."


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## CheerfulHeart (Apr 4, 2017)

My first WE Coastal Red. It was the first kit I tried to make. It had so much potential and I was so sad when I had to dump it  It smelled so bad!


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## FTC Wines (Apr 5, 2017)

Mine was Watermelon Wine. After a year finally dumped it all.


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## Rodnboro (Apr 5, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Or, you could say "Brian, I am not going to point out how annoying your use of apophasis is. I won't even bring up your constant use of paralipsis and how much it irks me."



New day, new word. Maybe you should start a "Word of the Day" thread.


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## grapeman (Apr 5, 2017)

The only wine ever dumped here because of just plain smelling and tasting nasty was a watermelon wine. Kept that sucker for a couple years hoping it would turn around, but it never did.


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## ceeaton (Apr 5, 2017)

I really haven't had a dump-able wine yet, not at least in my opinion. The closest to a "bad" wine I've had, in my wife's opinion, is one of two Pinto Grigio juice buckets I purchases last Spring. Guess I was having issues with my TA testing procedures and added a bit too much Tartaric Acid. I think the one I had already bottled tastes fine, but my wife thinks it is a little too zingy. The other went through some added chemicals (Potassium Bicarbonate) and then cold stabilized for several months. Now it needs racked off of the pound or so of crystals in the bottle of the carboy. TA was 8.7 g/L before K-bicarb/cold stabilizing, but I've seen Hybrid wines much higher than that. Oh well, makes a great cooking wine.


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## Ambugaton (Apr 17, 2017)

Now I am still very inexperienced... but I did try a pumpkin wine... the setup was great (pitched the yeast the night Trump won the election, was going to label it "Trumpkin") ... turns out the wine took the joke too far. A bit unconventional, unpredictable, not exactly what you pictured it tasting like... 

Other than the welches in a milk jug attempt I made at some point... (complete with the balloon with holes poked in it as an airlock) the pumpkin was the worst.


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## jswordy (Apr 18, 2017)

Interesting replies. My my grandpa was an old-world wine maker, so with him in mind my first "wine" was made with Hi-C and bread yeast when I was about 10 years old. It never got drinkable because it was sort of a science experiment so I just let it run until it was ruined. So that was the worst, I guess.

I had one failed batch of wine because I added five times the amount of k meta to the apple must after misreading the label. That was a dead zone!

I made strawberry one year and learned then that how much rain falls on those berries and the timing of when they are picked relative to the last rainfall can make all the difference. It was not unpleasant but very weak. I still have some of it and am planning one day to open them all up, blend with a fruit flavoring to make a berry wine, then clarify and rebottle.

Made some Norton that is just now getting good after 5 years, but that's pretty much normal for that grape, I understand. Very brawny, tannic and harsh in the earlier years. I think I have 3-4 bottles left. I had a friend who loved the stuff, so quite a few went to her.

Contrary to the comments in the thread, I've never had a bad batch of muscadine, nor have I had a bad batch of blueberry. I've medaled in 4 states with those two or a blend of the two. I still make Welch's, since it is so accessible for everyone and is often the hit of any party I bring it to. Just don't say it is Welch's and they lap it up.


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## Kraffty (Apr 18, 2017)

I made a Honeysuckle wine in my second year when I was trying to make wine from anything and everything I could buy cheap or grow. It never stopped tasting like lawn mowings and weeds and I dumped it after a couple of years. That was about the time I narrowed my fermenting down to grapes and an occasional blackberry or strawberry batch.
Mike


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## Arne (Apr 20, 2017)

I still make Welch's, since it is so accessible for everyone and is often the hit of any party I bring it to. Just don't say it is Welch's and they lap it up.[/QUOTE]

Don't tell Johnt. Might ruin his whole day, just at the mention of it. LOL, Arne.


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## jswordy (Apr 20, 2017)

Arne said:


> I still make Welch's, since it is so accessible for everyone and is often the hit of any party I bring it to. Just don't say it is Welch's and they lap it up.
> 
> Don't tell Johnt. Might ruin his whole day, just at the mention of it. LOL, Arne.



For the higher-class gatherings, I call it "Elixir of Rare Eastern Grape." Put a fancy label on the bottle. People jostle to try it then.


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## Arne (Apr 20, 2017)

jswordy said:


> For the higher-class gatherings, I call it "Elixir of Rare Eastern Grape." Put a fancy label on the bottle. People jostle to try it then.



I luv it. Chugalug, chugalug. Arne.


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## Jericurl (May 21, 2017)

Oh man, it's a toss up.

I did Cactus Flower wine one month for WOTM experiment. It turned into pink, fragrant, alcoholic snot.
It was just like the goo we used to play with back in the 80s.
Smelled lovely though.
Manthing had to dump it onto the compost bin because I couldn't even see it move without dry heaving.

Or the one I tried for one of the early contests here.
It was cucumber and something or other. It smelled like rancid vegetable matter, which...I'd rather smell a dead cow than rancid vegetables.
Even my garlic and onion wines didn't smell that bad.


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## sg1strgt (May 22, 2017)

I am sad to hear about the pumpkin wine. I wanted to try that one. Any idea what went wrong and where? As for the cherry, I've had nothing but awesome wine every time. My last batch I split and fortified with Brandy to make a cherry vanilla port (aging for 2months so far). I have to say my WORST batch was Blueberry. I don't understand why or where I went wrong but it tasted like cough syrup and nothing like blueberries even though the color and smell were awesome.


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## Stressbaby (May 22, 2017)

sg1strgt said:


> I am sad to hear about the pumpkin wine. I wanted to try that one. Any idea what went wrong and where? As for the cherry, I've had nothing but awesome wine every time. My last batch I split and fortified with Brandy to make a cherry vanilla port (aging for 2months so far). I have to say my WORST batch was Blueberry. I don't understand why or where I went wrong but it tasted like cough syrup and nothing like blueberries even though the color and smell were awesome.



Some thoughts based on reading I've done since my pumpkin wine disaster...

1. Roast the pumpkin first. Not sure where I read this but it can't hurt. I guess it would break down the flesh and caramelize it a little bit.

2. Substitute sweet potatoes for 25-33% of the pumpkin. Same thing here, not sure where I read about it but if someone gives me pie pumpkins again, that is what I will do.


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## sg1strgt (May 22, 2017)

Will do and thanks for the info. I really want to try this


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## Mismost (May 22, 2017)

IU suspect my worst wine has yet to be made....especially if I keep reading about pumpkins and sweet potatoes.


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## balatonwine (May 23, 2017)

Rodnboro said:


> What's was your worst?



White mulberry wine. It was an experiment and it was terrible. Did not drink it. 

I went back to just putting white mulberry fruits into the dehydrator (I think dried white mulberry are better tasting than raisins).


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