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+--- Thread: Help I bought a bottle of wine and i think it was bad!!! (/thread-19053.html)
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-17-2005
Ok I am really getting into the wine world...and i have yet to buy a bottle of wine that was bad (corked or oxidized) so i have just really read this sort of thing happens from time to time. The other night my girlfriend and I went to my sister's house. I bought a 20 dollar bottle of Les Trois Bouquets Nuits Saint George Burgundy (i am not sure who produces this wine i dont have to bottle anymore and this is the only thing printed on the receipt). When we poured the wine it was extremly cloudy. It looked almost like homemade sangria ...it was extremly cloudy, beet red/purple looking, and the surface was clear and watery but then as u look down the side of the glass it became this cloudy purple color. It smelt like almost nothing...and tasted primarily of alcohol ... I suppose there was a little fruitiness left in the wine but not much...it tasted like nothing. Does anyone know what this means? I never bought a bottle of French Burugndy but i can't imagine it is supposed to look and tast like that! Please help!
Signed,
Learning about wine.
- wondersofwine - 05-17-2005
It does sound like a bad bottle although I'm not expert enough to tell you what might be the type of flaw (secondary fermentation in the bottle or what). Do you remember the vintage? Maybe Foodie, Roberto, Bucko, Glenora or someone with more experience will have the answer.
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-17-2005
i believe it was a 2002 vintage. it was really really strange...how could a second fermantiation occur ?
- winoweenie - 05-17-2005
Lesson #1( Always keep the bottle so you caan refer to it later. Lessonb #2. Always keep the bottle so you can get a refund. WW
- wineguruchgo - 05-17-2005
Generally and I mean this in the most literal sense...wines that are bad will smell like Grandma's basement. Very old and musty.
This is a prime example what what we call in the wine world as "buyer beware". Every reputable retailer would have taken that bottle back and either refunded you your money or gave you the same or different bottle without question. Reason being because he would have returned it to the distributor for a full refund. It's a win-win on your part and his as well.
Please bear this in mind any time you have a wine that is questionable. Always take it back...no matter the reason. Trust me.. even if it's a good bottle of wine and you "just don't like it" the distributor isn't going to jeopardize his relationship with said retailer over one bottle and the winery isn't going to question it.
- Drew - 05-18-2005
$20 Burgundys usually = bad wine, imho.
Drew
- winoweenie - 05-18-2005
As posted meeny,meeny times 'afore I could buy an island in the Carribean with all the money I've poured down the terlit looking for "great" burgandies. WW
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-18-2005
THANKS FOR THE ADVICE. BUT I GUESS IM STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE WINE..I MEAN WAS THAT A RESULT OF BEING CORKED? OR OXIDIZED? I AM CURIOUS TO KNOW WHY IT WAS THE WAY IT WAS...
- hotwine - 05-18-2005
Using all caps won't help you get an answer, CB. I've been enjoying wines for 40 years and have never encountered one that was "cloudy and tasted like nothing". If it had been corked (contaminated with TCA), it would have a very pronounced funky taste and be undrinkable. If it was cooked due to improper storage, it would have tasted hot ... all alcohol and undefined (or sour) fruit; a clue to that condition would have been seen on the cork, which might have shown wetness along its length and on its top, under the capsule. The cloudiness though is unexplained.... perhaps bottled from the dregs of a barrel? Who knows? Suggest you avoid that particular label from now on ... and avoid the retailer, too, if you suspect the wine was cooked.
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-18-2005
sorry bout that caps..hehe..wasnt trying to yell...at work , casting for a soap opera, i use caps to input data into our system...i just forgot to take the caps off...me = lazy...sorry bout that...so you think it was just like bottle of the barrel wine mixing with the sludge ofthe barrel?
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-18-2005
Think i might have found what was wrong with my wine ..i found this wine term at oxfordwineroom.com
"HAZY"
The wine in the glass is dull, turbid, murky, cloudy. These terms denote suspended material in the wine. Hazy wine may be barely drinkable, but generally it is unsatisfactory; gets low marks for appearance; flawed; lacks clarity and brightness. Wines that are maderized, over-aged, or poorly stored will appear hazy. Winemaker's error, which may cause protein instability, or yeast to spoil, or wine to ferment in the bottle, causes a hazy wine. If the wine is unfiltered or unfined (noted on label of some California wine). not to worry if hazy; let it stand upright for a day or so and then decant - it should be clear then. Wines poorly stored for long duration will become hazy, for sure.
- wondersofwine - 05-18-2005
So I wasn't completely off with my guess about a secondary fermentation. That could be one of the causes for a hazy wine.
- Cowboyin Blake - 05-18-2005
what exactly is secondary fermantation?
- Kcwhippet - 05-18-2005
That can occur when there's some active yeast still left in the wine that hasn't been filtered out. The yeast can react with any residual sugar still left in the wine and ferment.