Can wine have a vinegar taste that will go away with aging?

So in racking a batch of fairly young mixed fruit wine (about 5 weeks old), I tasted some, and it seemed like it tasted a bit vinegary. But I'm not completely sure, it had some limes in it, and I think I might have just been tasting the limes.

Is it possible for it to have a vinegary taste that will go away with aging? Or is it much more likely that I'm just hosed and ended up with too much acetobacter growth in there? It was basically an open ferment for the first week with the fruit must before transferring to the carboy, maybe that was way too long of an open ferment.

Like all things give it time to see for sure, I could see a strong acid note being hard to distinguish. If it is vinegar, than you are, as you said, "hosed."

if it is vinegar you will see bacterial growth in the bottles, if you done see any bacterial growth then you dont have vinegar. what you are tasting is likely a sour taste and not vinegar. Young wine will typically make you pucker a bit till it mellows out....cheers

Ok I'm dipping into the first bottle now, so it's been in the bottles only a month. It's young but it's my next in line until my aged supplies build up over the year. It doesn't really taste vinegary, maybe slightly now, it does have what I would describe as a slight off taste, and there is a slight whitish film on top, I am thinking many of my brews may have a bit of Brett in them.

There is a small amount of lees droppage in the bottles, it tastes a little like it might be the lees flavor. Hm the smell is slightly offensive but if I drink it without smelling it it tastes pretty good. Hm it's also slightly sour, that I actually like. Some of these I primed the gallon jugs for carbonation, I like that too, a bit of fizz makes it nice.

Some of these had fruits I just rinsed and added without using campden and such, so who knows what kinds of wild things might have gotten into these. I picked up some Camden tablets and Starsan, I think I may need to start being a bit more careful with sanitization.

eta .. hm oh yes it has a goodly amount of alcohol in it ... stronger than my previous batches but I got more adventurous with more sweeteners too I think ... it tastes a little bit like an electrical fire. I've been accused of making 'hooch' on here before, I'm not trying to make hooch, I'm trying to make the best I can with good ingredients, but I have some learning to do I think ...

eta2 ... ah it's not electrical fire, it's peach! After it's in the glass and gets a chance to breathe a wonderful peach flavor comes out. Nice! Hm my label just says 'mead with raisins 9/1/12' so I'm not sure where the peach flavor would be coming from.

eta3 ... wow this stuff is s t r o n g really sneaks up on you, I think I should move this to the drunken ramblings forum now ...

I would recommend decanting the wine when serving as this will allow you to keep the lees in bottom of wine, and consider giving the wine time to breathe before serving...to see if some of the odor goes away prior to drinking.

But, if it is vinegar it is not going to go away. Thorough and proper cleaning and sanitizing is key with your equipment, and the choice of natyral yeast on fruit vs wine yeast can be like playing Russian roulette if you opt for natural. Did you use any Campden prior to bottling, or at all? The best thing you have at hand is what seems to be some high octane wine/mead, so that alone will help on the bacterial side, but not a fail-safe cure all. I think we all learn from each batch we make.

....Sara

You could stabilize it, then use it for blending, but if its already in bottles, maybe use it for 'topping off'?