Do you know what steel smells like?

Would it be the smell of hot machining oil rather than the steel itself? Steel is not aromatic.

Why not name the wine? My guess would be that it was a Shiraz.

I don't know if it's really relevant to this dicussion, but in the last year a paper was published that showed that the familiar "metallic" scent of many metals was actually the result of oxidiation of oils from our skin on the surface of the metal. Perhaps this is what you're smelling in the wine.

Mark Lipton

Or perhaps this gives a clue

My comment was only about steel. Other metals smell different. I am also speaking about newly machined steel that is untouched by human or other hands. I am also speaking of steel alloys that do not have sulfur or lead additives (They act as lubricants in the machining process).

To expand a little, I was using a seasoned Griswald cast iron Dutch Oven for braising meats. My wife called attention to the fact that there was a subtle "metallic" taste in the foods - this was always evident to some degree, especially if tomatoes were used in the recipe. I switched to a Teflon coated stainless steel Dutch oven and the issue disappeared.

Not reknowned for high percentages of Syrah I guess :)