# Wine sulfur smell



## nicklausjames (Jan 31, 2016)

I have a wine I made about a year ago. Learned my lesson about adding nutrient because I got the sulfur smell. I treated multiple times w reduless but it was too far gone. I still have the wine and am wondering what to do with it. I have about 7 gallons w sulfur smell. I have a separate batch of about 13 gallons that I made and is fine but a little overoaked. I was thinking of blending them and hoping both problems are cured but my question is will the sulfur smell carry into the blend? The over oak I'm not that concerned w bc it will still probably work its way out w aging but don't wana ruin all my wine w sulfur.

Also it's kinda hard to do bench trials bc the sulfur fades pretty quickly after pouring.


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## Boatboy24 (Jan 31, 2016)

nicklausjames said:


> Also it's kinda hard to do bench trials bc the sulfur fades pretty quickly after pouring.



I think that gives you your answer right there. Racking and blending will likely cure it. I'd give the bench trials a go.


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## salcoco (Jan 31, 2016)

blending 7 gallons of bad wine with 13 gallons of good wine will give you 20 gallons of bad wine.

If he sulfur dissipate as you say, do a splash racking that should aerate the wine and remove your sulfur smell.
if however you are experiencing rotten egg smell then the wine is toast.


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## sour_grapes (Jan 31, 2016)

nicklausjames said:


> I was thinking of blending them and hoping both problems are cured but my question is will the sulfur smell carry into the blend?



Google Schopenhauer's Law of Entropy.



nicklausjames said:


> I have a wine I made about a year ago. Learned my lesson about adding nutrient because I got the sulfur smell. I treated multiple times w reduless but it was too far gone. I still have the wine and am wondering what to do with it.



Can you say more about what the smell reminds you of? Is it like rotten eggs, or perhaps like stewed cabbage or burnt rubbber? (Cf. http://www.wineanorak.com/mercaptansinwine.htm) The reason I ask is that you say that (a) you have had the problem for some time, and (b) it did not respond to Reduless treatment. Given those two pieces of info, I would speculate that the H2S ("rotten egg") you had initially may have reacted to form mercaptans (AKA thiols). These will not respond easily to Reduless.

I am no expert, but I believe there are ways to treat mercaptans chemically. IIRC, this is a bigger undertaking than treating H2S. Aeration is also a way to proceed, as Jim points out.


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## TonyR (Jan 31, 2016)

As far as the 13 gal that is over oaked, I would let that age more, oak taste will dissipate with time. It's a good reason to take a glass full ever so often to check the oak flavor


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## NorCal (Jan 31, 2016)

I would do a copper sulfate trial, to determine if it is a problem that can be solved. It is easy to do a yes/no trial. If it does help, then doing a trial to determine the exact amount needed is necessary as you don't want residual copper in the wine. My understanding is that Reduless will add up to .02 ppm copper, vs. the U.S. limit of .5 or 25x less, so your case may be more than Redulees can impact. The other wild card is if the h2s has transformed to a more complex issue, where you would need to treat the wine with an acid, prior to treating it with copper sulfate.
I just went through this (successfully), so it's fresh in my mind.


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## JohnT (Feb 1, 2016)

Is it possible that your sulfur smell is from mercaptans? Does your wine have an almost "burnt rubber" smell to it or is it truly rotten eggs? 

If "burnt rubber" then you are dealing with mercaptans, which is not directly treatable with copper. Mercaptans form when H2S becomes bonded. 

All is not lost.. You can first treat your wine with ascorbic acid to convert the mercaptans back into H2S, then treat with copper.

In either case, that sulfur smell is actually just a tiny amount of the offending compound. Just 3 parts per million is enough to put you on your back. Blending will have very little impact.


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## Tnuscan (Feb 1, 2016)

nicklausjames said:


> I have a wine I made about a year ago. Learned my lesson about adding nutrient because I got the sulfur smell. I treated multiple times w reduless but it was too far gone. I still have the wine and am wondering what to do with it. I have about 7 gallons w sulfur smell. I have a separate batch of about 13 gallons that I made and is fine but a little overoaked. I was thinking of blending them and hoping both problems are cured but my question is will the sulfur smell carry into the blend? The over oak I'm not that concerned w bc it will still probably work its way out w aging but don't wana ruin all my wine w sulfur.
> 
> Also it's kinda hard to do bench trials bc the sulfur fades pretty quickly after pouring.



Hello!

"Learned my lesson about adding nutrient because I got the sulfur smell." 

What do you mean by this statement ?

Thanks!!!


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## sdelli (Feb 1, 2016)

I had similar problem with a small batch... Aged for two years and never got better. I racked the carboy into a bucket... Then beat the heck out of it with a power drill and a mixer on the end... Pulled almost all the gas out. Bottled it and give it to people that do not drink high end wine. It will become at least drinkable after that. All that oxygen does not give it the ability to age though. But I do not care since I give it away.


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## 4score (Feb 2, 2016)

Not giving enough nutrient at the right time during fermentation will yield H2S.


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## fanofbarolo (Feb 16, 2016)

I experienced something similar with my dad's ten year old syrah aligante grenache blend. I read online that sommelier would place two pennies in a glass for 30 minutes and the smell went away. So here I was. Three bottles that stunk of rotten eggs. I emptied the three bottles into a miniature 5 liter carboy and I dropped 7 pennies and I left the pennies overnight. 24 hours later the smell was gone. My only concern is if it is safe to drink wine that was exposed to pennies for 24 hours?
I did drink all the wine. 
I am not dead or sick.
But I want to be sure that I am not putting my kidney or liver at risk


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## JohnT (Feb 16, 2016)

If the wine is in the rotten-eggs stage of has infestation, then I would say the the racking (airation) most likely did more for your sulfur issues as the pennies. The issue is that you have no idea just how much copper was infused in your wine.

ultimately, copper is the best thing to correct these issues, but inguesting too much copper is not healthy for you. the very best approach is to first determine how much copper you need, then use a more exact delivery medium for the needed copper

keep in mind that the true amount of h2s is minute, usually under 4 parts per million. It takes very little to correct these issues.

i highly recommend a product called redueless. Use bench trials on a small sample to determine how much you need. If rreduce less is not an option, then go with copper sulfate solution.

note: it is also VERY important to address H2S issues early, before the H2S bonds into mercaptan compounds. This is when the rotten eggs smell changes to a burnt rubber smell. Mercaptans are a bit more difficult to address.


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## Thormo (Feb 16, 2016)

Reduless is a viable option. You can also try racking with a decent length of copper pipe before using reduless. Typically the issue is the lack of nutrients at the proper stages of primary fermentation.


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## NorCal (Feb 17, 2016)

Thormo said:


> Reduless is a viable option. You can also try racking with a decent length of copper pipe before using reduless. Typically the issue is the lack of nutrients at the proper stages of primary fermentation.



Running wine through a copper pipe has the same downside as throwing pennies in the glass. At the pH of wine, the copper is not stable, like it is with water. I don't want to drink, nor serve wine with an unknown amount of copper.


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