I have made a few kits, Cabernet Sav & Zin, the expensive ones with skins. The wine actually tastes pretty good initially. Then I let it age for about 6 months. After that, the wines start to get worse, some have a slight vinegar flavor and all have lost most of the fruitiness flavor. They seem to get better if I let them sit opened for a while. What is happening and what can I do to stop it during future fermentations? Is there something I should be adding during bottling that will make the wine keep longer? I follow the kit directions compeltely.
Kit wines and longevity
- Thread starter Alphadawg
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bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
If you are following the kit directions the wine should not taste of vinegar. Vinegar results when wine is exposed to air in the presence of aceto-bacteria. Aceto-bacteria are either in the containers you are using to make or store the wine (in which case you may not be adequately sanitizing your tools) or they can be introduced by fruit flies. But aceto- bacteria can do nothing if there is no oxygen available, so it is possible that you are storing your wine with too much headroom or you are not properly bottling the wine and its being exposed to air in the bottle.
All that said, I wonder if the problem may not be vinegar. All wines , I believe have some ascetic acid, and you may be very sensitive to this acid flavor in your wine. Allowing the wine to breathe for a few minutes may have the effect of oxidizing some of the more volatile compounds and that may help smooth out the flavors you find challenging. More: allowing the wine to breathe may soften harsher tannins and again that may make the wine taste better.
BUT
Six months of aging ain't aging. That wine is green cheese. I would think that expensive kits might need to be aged 12 months or 2 years before they might be considered old enough to walk across the road on their own. I know that this may be next to impossible but I suggest that you allow your wine to age another 3 months before cracking open another bottle and then another 3 months before cracking open one after that...
All that said, I wonder if the problem may not be vinegar. All wines , I believe have some ascetic acid, and you may be very sensitive to this acid flavor in your wine. Allowing the wine to breathe for a few minutes may have the effect of oxidizing some of the more volatile compounds and that may help smooth out the flavors you find challenging. More: allowing the wine to breathe may soften harsher tannins and again that may make the wine taste better.
BUT
Six months of aging ain't aging. That wine is green cheese. I would think that expensive kits might need to be aged 12 months or 2 years before they might be considered old enough to walk across the road on their own. I know that this may be next to impossible but I suggest that you allow your wine to age another 3 months before cracking open another bottle and then another 3 months before cracking open one after that...
Thanks Bernard. The wine has not turned to vinegar. It just has an off flavor until it is opened up for a while. Still not as flavorful as when it was first bottled. I definitely had too much headroom in the secondary fermenter, a mistake I will not make again. They are bottled correctly and don't leak so I assume no oxygen gets in that way. We will do our best to wait a little longer. We have been afraid that if we don't drink them sooner, they might be ruined in another 3-6 months
bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
Certainly many grapes have some acetic acid in them and indeed, by all accounts many wines have a tiny amount of vinegar in them and you may be very sensitive to that flavor. Allowing the wine to breath may very well allow those molecules to dissipate. But here is a note from E C Kraus about vinegar in wine
https://eckraus.com/home-wine-making-vinegar/
https://eckraus.com/home-wine-making-vinegar/
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