Harford Vineyard Chilean Grape/Juice Pickup

[Boatboy24]

Brett Barnyard usually = organic to the point of cowpie.

So it is both in the taste and the aroma? Is there a sherry note discernible in the taste or aroma? Just doing some research since I'm bored and had to sit down to rest from my active day of not drinking... time to go clean the bathrooms then plant my tomato seeds.

Nope, no sherry taste.

 

[Boatboy24]

OK, so what's my plan with Noblesse?

 

[Tnuscan]

From my understanding, you add, agitate once and let sit a week, if it smells and taste fine rack and filter adding oak and age.

If problem is still there add additional dose + 1/2 of the first dose, agitate once weekly for 1 month. and so on as instructions on page explains.

That's my understanding anyway, But if it were me I'd seek consultation from someone with actual experience. I've never had a contamination of any kind. Knock on wood. I purchased it on the old saying "better to have it and not need it, as need it, and not have it". Murphy's law seems to await my next move.

I just look at it as 1 more step before tossing. On 1, I might even add yeast hulls too, no more than they cost, this is just supposed to bind the issue and drop it out. Right?

 

[Boatboy24]

Anyone know what my target dosage is for 6 gallons?

 

[Tnuscan]

If it's thought to be Brett it requires 20 g/hl, a 1 hectoliter is 26.41 gallons.
You have close to this having 4 batches. So I'm thinking 5 grams per carboy on initial addition. If a second addition is needed then add 7.5 grams per carboy. Right?
Your wanting to add the initial plus half again. 30 g/hl divided by 4 batches. On the second addition if needed.

 

[Boatboy24]

Got the other 3 racked from the garage today, along w/ a 3 gallon carboy of 'blend'. All had significant diamonds and were tasting somewhat better than before. The Syrah and cab in particular showed the most improvement. The Syrah has mellowed a fair amount, but still has the green pepper notes - but the harshness is a little tamed now. The cab actually has a pretty nice nose now with dark fruit and mocha coming through. Both had barrel time: the Syrah with roughly 20 weeks in a neutral barrel and the Cab had the same time in a 1 year old barrel. Not sure if the oak is masking some of the flaws in the cab, but it is currently better than it has been since primary - almost presentable. I need to top up all 4, add Meta and test pH. Ordered some Noblesse tonight, so we'll see what that does. The Cab is giving me a little hope. Still scratching my head on what might have gotten them where they are today though.

 

[sdelli]

Most likely not Bret... Chilean is well known for h2s problems. Especially in fresh fruit.
I have made so much wine from CA now guess I am spoiled and just don't enjoy drinking From the south. It seems to rarely comes to satisfaction.

 

[Tnuscan]

Most likely not Bret... Chilean is well known for h2s problems. Especially in fresh fruit.
I have made so much wine from CA now guess I am spoiled and just don't enjoy drinking From the south. It seems to rarely comes to satisfaction.

Well if not, one could hit it with some reduless too. Is this your thinking, what would you suggest?

I was thinking this would be my personal choice if it were mine, using 5 to 6 grams of each on the next go, if it needed it. After that,

 

[Boatboy24]

H2S does not appear to be the issue here - at least not by smell. Any other signs of H2S I can look for? Again, this is a sour, kind of nasty taste. I guess you could say 'barnyard'. All are better after adjusting pH with K-carbonate and cold stabilization, but the issue remains. Noblesse arrived yesterday - I'll dose in the next couple days and see what a month on it does.

 

[Tnuscan]

I don't doubt H2S had a something to do with this earlier on, with the odors, and the mlf crawling along. It could be another bacterial infection, which i'm doubting it is. Brett would be my first guess and it has many characters along it's journey. Some encourage it's early stage of the " barnyard character", I don't care for it myself.

I had a bottle, not that long ago, and it had progressed to having the "band-aid" character. I feel that the winemaker didn't keep the sulfite maintained, it had most likely devoloped in the bottle. The pH was high on this wine, which helped with its progression also.

I'm hoping the treatment pulls this issue out. After racking over, (or even while racking) one might want to filter also.

 

[sdelli]

Bret is like the buzz word of choice in today's winemaking... When more times then not it is just the home winemaking process that creates h2s and is easily mistaken.

 

[Tnuscan]

Might pay to do the test on a liter of wine...???

 

[Boatboy24]

Tonight, I made the difficult decision to dump these wines. I know they aren't even 18 months old yet, but the minimal improvement they've made during this time tells me that these will never be something that I'll want to drink. I have too many other OK, decent, and even very good wines that I'll open before these. They are taking up needed carboy space and I'm not going to throw good money after bad to buy more carboys to accommodate these. Good news is they were cheap - juice buckets w/ a lug of grapes.

Life's too short to drink sh!*%y wine - or spend time working on it.

 

[Bodenski]

Tonight, I made the difficult decision to dump these wines. I know they aren't even 18 months old yet, but the minimal improvement they've made during this time tells me that these will never be something that I'll want to drink. I have too many other OK, decent, and even very good wines that I'll open before these. They are taking up needed carboy space and I'm not going to throw good money after bad to buy more carboys to accommodate these. Good news is they were cheap - juice buckets w/ a lug of grapes.

Life's too short to drink sh!*%y wine - or spend time working on it.

Sorry for your loss. I'm sure not an easy decision, or at least not a comfortable one.

 

[balassley]

Tonight, I made the difficult decision to dump these wines. I know they aren't even 18 months old yet, but the minimal improvement they've made during this time tells me that these will never be something that I'll want to drink. I have too many other OK, decent, and even very good wines that I'll open before these. They are taking up needed carboy space and I'm not going to throw good money after bad to buy more carboys to accommodate these. Good news is they were cheap - juice buckets w/ a lug of grapes.

Life's too short to drink sh!*%y wine - or spend time working on it.

I feel your pain. My Chilean Syrah was NOT good last I checked (before bottling). The green pepper was just overpowering. I still bottled it hoping it would mellow out in time. Wishful thinking? My next tester bottle is in January. Pretty sure it'll still register BAD. This was my 1st time going all grapes and was quite a disappointment. I'll only purchase California grapes going forward.

 

[Ajmassa]

Your a smart man. I bottled a bad batch at 18 months thinking it woulda been ok. Now they're waiting to be uncorked and dumped at 23 months.
https://youtu.be/Jj4nJ1YEAp4

 

[Johnd]

Tonight, I made the difficult decision to dump these wines. I know they aren't even 18 months old yet, but the minimal improvement they've made during this time tells me that these will never be something that I'll want to drink. I have too many other OK, decent, and even very good wines that I'll open before these. They are taking up needed carboy space and I'm not going to throw good money after bad to buy more carboys to accommodate these. Good news is they were cheap - juice buckets w/ a lug of grapes.

Life's too short to drink sh!*%y wine - or spend time working on it.

You gotta know when to cut and run, and you have the experience to make that call, onward!

 

[jgmann67]

Hate to read stories like this. Sorry Jim. Live and learn, right?

 

[Boatboy24]

Live and learn, right?

Frustrating part is I haven't learned. The source of the issue is still a complete mystery.

 

[ceeaton]

Frustrating part is I haven't learned. The source of the issue is still a complete mystery.

Yea, that's what bugs me about it. I'd feel okay if you knew what caused it so you'd could avoid the same situation on a future batch.