Crabapple Puzzle

Oct 30, 2005 1 Replies

I made a crabapple wine using the recipe on Jack Keller's website two years ago. I sweetened the wine to taste and adjusted the acid balance to taste with acid blend. I bottled the wine using Cellar Pro grade 3 solid corks and let the wine bottle age for one year.



Now most bottles are delightful but about 20% of them are lifeless, no character and taste like blah alcoholic slightly sour water. I cannot find any visual difference and do not know what happened?



Any Suggestions?



Thanks, A. J. Rawls Anchorage, Alaska, USA


The only thing I could think of would be oxidation due to failed corks. Can you recognize the taste of an oxidized wine? Is the bland wine a shade darker than the good wine? (this would be an indication of oxidation. You might pour a glass of the good wine in an empty wine bottle and cover it to keep out undesirables but leave it exposed to air. Let it sit for a couple of weeks and try it. If it tastes more like the bad wine, then it is oxidation.

Ray

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