Blackberry wine ruined?

[Dave the Brewer]

I crushed blackberries let it ferment in a bucket for a few days then I siphoned off the liquid into a carboy. When I siphoned a few berries went with the liquid, I had planned on switching it to another carboy to get rid of the rest of the berries. I kind of put it at the end of my list of things to do; and left it for about 3 weeks. Just the other day I got around to it and I popped the air lock off, and it really stunk. I guess similar to rotting composting fruit. I switched it over to the new carboy liquid only. It still smells but not as bad I guess..... Is my wine ruined? or can I expect the smell to go away with time?

 

[ducylowycz]

I wouldn't think you ruined the wine...however you may want to get that into a carboy as soon as possible to prevent oxidation. Most of your fermentation takes place with 12 days of starting your must. Oxygen is your friend up to that point, after that oxygen is bad. If a few of the berries got "sucked" into your racking, it will just create a very dry tasting wine. The skins have a LOT of natural tannin.

 

[Yooper]

did you use any campden tablets with the fruit at all? any wine yeast? Any sugar or anything like that?

 

[Dave the Brewer]

Oh yeah I stuck to procedure, added my campden tablets and sugar, let it sit for 24 hours. Then pitched the yeast.

 

[Yooper]

It should be ok, just make sure you added campden when you bottle!

How does it taste?