WineXpert After taste

[Country]

Just about to bottle a WE LE French Merlot. I would love to let it age another few months but I need the carboy and it is next in line for the honor. Anyway, it is good, I had a glass of it last night. It does however, have a slight aftertaste of soap. Way at the back of my tongue, very slight but noticeable. Can anyone reccomend a course of action for this slight distractor?

 

[Johnd]

Just about to bottle a WE LE French Merlot. I would love to let it age another few months but I need the carboy and it is next in line for the honor. Anyway, it is good, I had a glass of it last night. It does however, have a slight aftertaste of soap. Way at the back of my tongue, very slight but noticeable. Can anyone reccomend a course of action for this slight distractor?

I can't say that I've had that specific aftertaste in any of my wines, but everyone tastes things differently. Unless you think that somewhere in your process that you left soap residue in one of your vessels, chalk it up to a funky young wine taste that hasn't aged out yet. Lots of funny little tastes show up in my wines (kits and grapes) at different stages during their progress towards adequate aging time, have yet to have one remain beyond the 1.5 - 2 year mark.

If you're really concerned about it, put 1/8 tsp sulfite into a clean, sanitized carboy, and splash rack into it, let the wine settle down a bit and taste it to see if the soapy taste has subsided.

 

[Country]

Thanks,
I racked it, just a regular rack without an attempt to introduce air. It is much better. I think one problem is that when I taste a sample from a carboy, I get just the very top layer. Once mixed a little it was fine, very good in fact. Oh, and a correction to my original post, it’s a New Zeland Merlot, not French.

 

[sour_grapes]

It does however, have a slight aftertaste of soap. ... Can anyone reccomend a course of action for this slight distractor?

Maybe you should just curse a bit before sipping, then you would think that the soap taste were warranted.

 

[brewbush]

Probably just too young. I would either leave it in carboy another 6-12 months or bottle and let age that way. Many of mine have completely changed for the better after 1-2 years in the bottle