What has gone wrong?

[jake77]

I opened 2 different wines over the weekend and both had a terrible bitter aftertaste to them that has not always been there. One of them was a WE vintners harvest Gewurztraminer that was bottled back in May. And the other was a WE Selection Liebfraumilch that was bottled this past December. It has been about 2 months that I tasted the Gewurtz. and tasted good then and only 2 weeks for the Lieb. and that tasted fine then. The color is still good in the wine and there is not any sediment in the bottles. My wine cellar stays a constant 55 degrees and humidity right around 75%. What could have happened?To me both of these wines are undrinkable, They are very bitter tasting and they don't have that smooth off-dry taste they once had.

 

[Goodfella]

What did you eat with them?


Had you been tasting other wines?




It's hard to think that they would have changed that drasically in 2 weeks and 2 months.

 

[jake77]

I kind of thought the same thing- maybe it was something we were eating but I tried them again the next morning and they tasted the same way.

 

[Goodfella]

Uhhh Ohhh....


I don't know. I hope someone here has some idea's. I am stumped.

 

[Waldo]

 

[admiral]

Are you getting a cold or getting over one? Sometimes wine does not taste good when I am suffering a cold. Other than that...

 

[smokegrub]

Could it possibly be the corks??????

 

[Bert]

I'm just trying to think of what may have gone wrong.....What did you clean and sanitize your bottles with???

 

[ibglowin]

Perhaps the cleaned bottles were not rinsed really well?

Left over Oxyclean or something similar?

 

[JohnnyK68]

I was going to say what Mike sais since that happened to a batch of beer I made once. I lost half the batch because I didnt rinse the second set of bottles I cleaned well enough and left a film of oxy clean behind. I hope this si not the case for you as that is something that will not go away.

 

[robie]

Sure sounds like the bottles. You could always open one more bottle to see if it is the same.

 

[jake77]

I only use a small amount of mild soap when cleaning bottles and rinse them twice. I sulfite them right before I bottle and sterilize the corks also. I tasted the same 2 bottles again last night before I went to bed and seemed to taste ok. So- I really don't know what it was. Maybe it was the food or possibly the hangover from the night before?

 

[Runningwolf]

Could it have been the glass you were drinking out of had something in/on it?

 

[smurfe]

Oxy Clean shouldn't leave an after taste and really even need rinsed although I rinse after using. Those no rinse cleaners you see, Easy Clean and One Step are basically industrial strength Oxy Clean. If both tasted good before and two different wines now taste bitter I would lean toward my glassware and the possibility of dish soap residue. I get very upset here if my beer or wine glasses get washed with liquid dish soap like Dawn. I used to have a house cleaner that would take my coffee pot, squirt dishsoap in the pot and soak it to clean it while she cleaned the house. I fired her after she did it again after I asked her not to. Even with heavy rinsing I could taste the dish soap in the coffee.

 

[uavwmn]

I am leaning toward maybe the corks.

 

[grapeman]

It could be a number of things. They are both whites, and are both WE kits. I have had a few of the WE cheaper kits a few years ago that were great and then after a period of time developed an off bitterness to them. I was so put off from them that I set them aside for close to a year and then said what the heck and opened one. The bitterness and off taste were gone. I attribute it to the sorbate added since that can lead to off tastes at times. That may not be the problem but the point is, don't give up on them. Let them get some more age on them and then try again.