What to do with a wine that doesn't taste good?

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lukebuz

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Well, made 6 gallons of Blueberry Rhubarb wine, that frankly, doesn't taste good.

Doesn't taste of Rhubarb, doesn't taste of blueberry. I have 20 bottles of blueberry that isn't very good already, and don't need more of the same type. (I think I got some bland berries. They weren't even good fresh, and I had 60lbs!)

It's not clear, and it's not red. It's dark pink. It's not really anything. Just "alcoholic meh".

What would you do? Is sparkling red a possibility, or would that be nasty? How about watering down to a still/sparkling berry cider?
 
Sounds interesting - maybe use some in a dessert where you need to reduce wine down to a glaze?

Sangria is also a good option, I wouldn't have thought of that. Recipes can be found easily with a Google search, most have some sort of rating to them. Pick one you think sounds good & give it a try!
 
Yup, I agree. That's not a bad idea if hosting a party!

I kind of think cider might be of option too!
 
Most winemakers take the view that you can't improve a bad wine by blending, you will only make your other wine worse.

I used to take my failures to the local town dump if it was bottled. There was an old guy who hung around the dump, he had an old tricycle for retrieving anything he fancied as useful. He used to take my unwanted wine and later reported it was nice mixed with some lemon soda, though I don't think he was very fussy. At least the wine was appreciated by somebody, even if it was the town drunk. I haven't seen him for years now, I feel a bit guilty that I may have hastened his presumed demise.
 
Someone once told me "a spoon full of sewage in your soup, makes your soup sewage"

That being said if you have not added sorbate to your wine grab a mother & try making vinegar.

Don't feel bad about dumping I just had to dump 5 gallons of 2014 over Oaked, slightly oxidized Pinot noir
 
You did not mention when it finished or how old it is....if it's bottled, find a spot and just let it sit....try in about a year.....time can sometimes be the winning ingredient. It will dump just as easy in a year as it will now.....but, what if it really improves? Dump it and you'll never know.
 
How old is the wine? Time can change that wine, just put it aside for a year, but I also agree with making Sangria, I had 2 cases of wine that I made a few years back from a juice bucket, I personally didn't care for it but I didn't want to dump it...on New Years Eve I used 7 bottles to make Sangria; everyone really enjoyed it, it went fast.
 
Well, it's still new. As in it's not even fully clear yet, chilling in glass carboys. So yes, I'll hang on for awhile, but I don't have high hopes. It's just an acidic flavorless alcohol juice.

I will give it a bit more time, but don't have high hopes.

Other than that, I'll bottle a few for Sangria, and before deciding the rest, maybe I'll try a 50% water blend (to drop the ABV), sweeten it up a bit, and see if it would be a good still easy drinker.

To the guy who dumped his bottles...really? That makes me sad. At least reuse the bottles. They are expensive!

I like to hear your other sad stories of failure. Good lessons to learn from! Keep them coming.
 
lukebuz said:
To the guy who dumped his bottles...really? That makes me sad. At least reuse the bottles. They are expensive!
Click to expand...

The bottles were just re-used wine bottles, no great loss. At least someone got some pleasure from the wine.

Ageing will improve wine a bit, make it more drinkable, but it won't turn bad wine into good wine.

The most important thing is to learn from your mistakes, more mistakes means more chances to learn. Eventually you will make wine you like to drink, it took me years of trying.
 
lukebuz said:
Well, it's still new. As in it's not even fully clear yet, chilling in glass carboys. So yes, I'll hang on for awhile, but I don't have high hopes. It's just an acidic flavorless alcohol juice.

I will give it a bit more time, but don't have high hopes.

Other than that, I'll bottle a few for Sangria, and before deciding the rest, maybe I'll try a 50% water blend (to drop the ABV), sweeten it up a bit, and see if it would be a good still easy drinker.

.
Click to expand...


How old is the wine?
If the wine is still clearing it may still be young and not come into its own. Some fruit wines can take up to a year to have the flavors come through
 
If its "Meh" and not "Bleh" you can use it as a base to add other flavors to. Start off with flavored soda, try different kinds and make a wine cocktail. Or use frozen concentrate and experiment with adding some strawberry flavor to compliment the rhubarb. Make a small batch of cider and experiment blending with that, or get some blueberry concentrate and see if bumping the blueberry note helps any. Sometimes bumping the flavor and the ABV can help, try adding small amounts of vodka. I've made some "meh" wine and sometimes messing with it works out, sometimes I give up, and down the drain it goes.
 
One thing I have learned is that when you get serious about winemaking you end up with a lot of bottles in your cellar. You mainly drink the wines that you like best and the others just sit there for years, taking up space. Last year I tipped out 40L of perfectly good wine, the only problem was it wasn't as good as my other wines so I didn't think it was worth bottling it. Believe me if it isn't to your taste after 2 years you will never drink it. It is different when you are starting out but after a while you learn the difference between the good stuff and the other stuff. Everyone has their own standards, from the guy at the Wattle Flat tip to the rich connoisseur, if it isn't up to your standard you may as well get rid of it.
 
Get a 5L vinegar cask and a mother. Make a big batch of vinegar. Forget about it for at least a year.
 
OP, I'll take some of those blueberry bottles off of your hands if you want to make space.

:D
 
Yeah, sangria is a great suggestion, or maybe mix half'n'half with iced tea'n'lemon....dunno how "not good" the wine tastes, but I do that with some meads my wife doesn't care for and they go over pretty well that way.
 
Of all the responses and suggestions, your best options were suggested in posts 9, 11, and 17. Sometimes the majority opinion is the best :)
 
Sometimes simply stabilizing and adding more sugar is all that is needed to balance the acidity and bring the fruit flavor forward. You don't say what the current gravity is so if it finished dry (1.000 or less) my suggestion would be to open a bottle and bench test with the addition of different quantities of sugar and see if the flavor improves...
 
drink it!

punishment for making bad wine

or, have to go with making vinegar out of it

81kClGk6SoL._SX522_.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Double_D said:
Or dump the dregs from a settled bottle of braggs Apple cider. That works well for me.
Click to expand...

Thats what i use too. Shake the hell out of the Braggs bottle then add a couple tablespoons to the wine. Let it set (uncapped) for months/years and you have a nice vinegar. I have atleast 3 aging right now.

I love good vinegars but they cost more than a descent wine. My black currant vinegar would be well over $30/liter if i bought it.
 

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