Turn to vinegar??

[PostToastee]

I made a California Merlot about a year ago. Every bottle has been fine so far. Today I opened one and it seemed to smell like red wine vinegar. I've tasted it and it tastes a little like it too. Why have all the rest been fine but this one tastes strange? Any ideas? I only have 5 bottles left so maybe I'll just open another to see what its like.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Could be that the bottle you used wasn't completely clean and sanitized. A bit of dried crusty wine at the bottom of a bottle doesn't rinse out very easily and could harbor the bacteria that turns wine to vinegar. It's possible that if the bottle caused the problem, it may be the only bad one in the batch.

 

[pete1325]

Make a salad......then open another bottle.

 

[bionerd]

It probably was a problem with sanitation. Bacteria reproduce really fast, so you need to kill all of them or else you get vinegar :/ Learned this after making some lovely apple cider vinegar on accident ...
It could be just the one bottle, so Im with Pete1325 here, try another one. If it's good, you know you just need to clean your bottles better, if it's more than one, maybe let your bottles stay in the sanitizing solution longer.

The other thing to think about is the cork that you are using. The natural ones can dry out if you store the bottles standing up, and allow oxygen exchange which would cause the wine to oxidize slowly over time.

 

[Whitehrs]

Make a salad......then open another bottle.

Or use it for a very nice marinade with a high quality Olive oil.. or both 750ml is quite a bit..