Help.
Background:
2006 was our first attempt at wine-making. We did a "practice run" with Concord grapes picked from my son's backyard. Our second, much larger batch was from Merlot grapes (Lido, CA), purchased through a wine equipment dealer here in the midwest. The less than ideal Concord was bottled on Dec. 24. Surprisingly the wine is very, very good--not too sweet like the stuff you buy, etc., etc. The Merlot won't be finished for months, but we're having a scary problem with the practice Concord that we want to avoid with the Merlot.
The problem:
We've drank 4 bottles of the Concord. It tastes good and is crystal clear. Today I held a bottle of the stored wine to the light and was shocked to see "stuff" floating inside all the bottles of wine. I really struggle with describing it. It is light in color and and looks like masses of solid particles--something like pulp floating in orange juice or crushed up, soggy cornflakes.
We carefully and faithfully sanitized all our equipment everytime we handled or re-racked the wine. We measured acid, etc which remained constant at 65. We sanitized the bottles. At bottling, we added proper amounts of Potassium Sorbate and Campden.
The Questions:
What in the name of "Pete" is this stuff?? Where did it come from? Are the remaining 30 bottles of wine a complete waste? Does it need to be poured down the drain? Is there anything we can do to salvage it?
My Comment:
We can chalk up the possible ruination of the wine to experience if we can figure out what we did wrong. If it can be fixed, we'll certainly fix it. More importantly--the Merlot is on its way to being a fine, high quality wine and we don't want to ruin it too.
My Plea:
Can anyone help?
My Thanks:
My sincere thanks to anyone who can help me understand what is going on and how to fix it, if it can be fixed.
Sincerely,
piace
Background:
2006 was our first attempt at wine-making. We did a "practice run" with Concord grapes picked from my son's backyard. Our second, much larger batch was from Merlot grapes (Lido, CA), purchased through a wine equipment dealer here in the midwest. The less than ideal Concord was bottled on Dec. 24. Surprisingly the wine is very, very good--not too sweet like the stuff you buy, etc., etc. The Merlot won't be finished for months, but we're having a scary problem with the practice Concord that we want to avoid with the Merlot.
The problem:
We've drank 4 bottles of the Concord. It tastes good and is crystal clear. Today I held a bottle of the stored wine to the light and was shocked to see "stuff" floating inside all the bottles of wine. I really struggle with describing it. It is light in color and and looks like masses of solid particles--something like pulp floating in orange juice or crushed up, soggy cornflakes.
We carefully and faithfully sanitized all our equipment everytime we handled or re-racked the wine. We measured acid, etc which remained constant at 65. We sanitized the bottles. At bottling, we added proper amounts of Potassium Sorbate and Campden.
The Questions:
What in the name of "Pete" is this stuff?? Where did it come from? Are the remaining 30 bottles of wine a complete waste? Does it need to be poured down the drain? Is there anything we can do to salvage it?
My Comment:
We can chalk up the possible ruination of the wine to experience if we can figure out what we did wrong. If it can be fixed, we'll certainly fix it. More importantly--the Merlot is on its way to being a fine, high quality wine and we don't want to ruin it too.
My Plea:
Can anyone help?
My Thanks:
My sincere thanks to anyone who can help me understand what is going on and how to fix it, if it can be fixed.
Sincerely,
piace