A previous post on stirring caused me to realize that I totally forgot to stir my last batch which is a Cab-Shiraz. I bottled it about 4 months ago. Now I am bummed that I may have screwed it up! What will happen if I forgot to stir off the gas? What can I do to save the batch if anything can be done?
Thanks,
Steven
I did a 20 bottle batch of "Sparkling" Zinfandel by not agitating it enough. I'd get a bottle now, open it, taste it, then pour it long into a decanter. By pouring it long I mean cause it to bubble into the decanter. It may or may not make a difference. Plan on drinking the wine because you have added a lot of O2 getting it into the decanter. Good Luck!
You certainly didn't screw it up, don't lose any sleep over it. Depending on bottling temperature and how much headspace you left you may not even notice anything. You should always keep at least 1/2 to
3/4 of an inch of headspace if you bottle at room temp, say 65 to 75 F. If it's colder you want more because it expands in the bottle as temperature climbs. Cold wine holds more gas than warmer wine so that matters too.Just open one bottle and pour a glass. If it has a little carbonation do as Casey said; decant it and shake it up now to remove the gas. You will not have bottle bombs from lack of degassing; they never blow up anyway in my experience. Worst case a cork pushes because you left some sugar in there too.
Joe
Winemaking is a hobby that is not suppose to stress you out. It is also one of the most forgiving of all hobbies. Most mistakes have little effect on the finished product.
If you bottled when it was supersaturated with CO2 it will not hurt the wine at all and as it is not the result of fermentation in the bottle it is not something to worry about. It will probably just end up picant which means that it will be sort of like Champaign. Perhapse not so much so that it will really bubble when pored but you may notice bubbles forming on the side of the glass and you will notice a prickling on the tounge. Often it is not even considered a fault. Many people like this in a wine. I do not. If you do not want it, just open it and pour it roughly into a carfee and let it set for 30 min's before drinking. Most of it will be gone.
In fact, since it has been bottled for 4 months, I would suggest that your rush into your wine celler (doesn't that sound nice) and open a bottle and see if it is picant. If so, see if you like it. If you do not, try clearing the CO2 as suggested. This will deffinately calm your nerves.
Oh, report on what you find.
Ray
Just a thought..... If you have a wine-saver vacuum pump then that would help to draw off the CO2 as well.
Do like I did - tell SWMBO to try your latest experiment- sparkling wine.
Except when I did it, I didn't know what I did (or didn't do) so I could replicate it.
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