OK. I'm out of the pail and into the carboy. In ten days I'll add sulfites.
Potassium and Sorbate.
Put some of the hose dregs of my Shiraz kit in a wine glass to observe and
study. Uggg. That smell. New wine?! I think this is what I thought was the
"sulfite" smell. Now, upon reflection, it really may be only new-yeasty-wine
smell. Am I correct? This was the haunting smell which was in bottle after
bottle of one of my relative's wine making attempts. Really, it put me off
home made wine. His anyway. Was this just "wine before it's time"? I by
contrast am not impatient. Can I benefit by leaving the wine in the
secondary for a longer period of time? Where can I use time as tool to
improve my wine prior to bottling? Thx.

"Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
news:bWsBh.1022568$5R2.732391@pd7urf3no...

> study. Uggg. That smell. New wine?! I think this is what I thought was the

I love the smell of fermenting wine.

This brings to my mind the time I took my daughter to Hawaii.
We were on Maui driving the road to Hana when it suddenly smelled
like we were driving through a winery.
It turns out that mangos were falling off the trees, being crushed by
tires of the passing cars, and fermenting on the road.
Mango wine!

> Put some of the hose dregs of my Shiraz kit in a wine glass to observe and
> study. Uggg. That smell. New wine?! I think this is what I thought was the
> "sulfite" smell. Now, upon reflection, it really may be only new-yeasty-wine
> smell. Am I correct?

No way to say unless you are more desciptive of the actual smell. New
wine smells good to me too. If it smelled like rotten eggs or pungent
in general, rack it again wirth some splashing. If it smells bad that
is not normal. A shiraz is usually oaked, the wine will have coarse
taste when young but should not have a bad smell. Long aging on a red
is never bad, I don't see a need for sorbate in a dry wine either.

Joe

"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> > Put some of the hose dregs of my Shiraz kit in a wine glass to observe
and
> > study. Uggg. That smell. New wine?! I think this is what I thought was
the
> > "sulfite" smell. Now, upon reflection, it really may be only
new-yeasty-wine
> > smell. Am I correct?
>
> No way to say unless you are more desciptive of the actual smell. New
> wine smells good to me too. If it smelled like rotten eggs or pungent
> in general, rack it again wirth some splashing. If it smells bad that
> is not normal. A shiraz is usually oaked, the wine will have coarse
> taste when young but should not have a bad smell. Long aging on a red
> is never bad, I don't see a need for sorbate in a dry wine either.
>
> Joe

Nope. It wasn't sulfurous at all....it was definitely yeast and young grape,
tinny perhaps might describe it a little too. The taste was very fresh
although I had to keep my teeth together so the oak and benonite didn't coat
my tongue ;^). Thx.

New wine does smell like new wine. No getting around that. To long time
wine makers it smells good. To others it may smell bad. BUT, I never
bottle untill the wine is absolutely clear, tastes good, and smells good.
If it smells or tastes yeasty then it probably is yeasty and you do not want
old yeast rotting in you wine bottle. Leave it in the secondary untill it
is ready to bottle. For me that is usually for 6 months to 1 year. But
sometimes I will force clear and bottle a younger wine.

Ray

"Alan Smithee" > wrote in message
news:bWsBh.1022568$5R2.732391@pd7urf3no...
> OK. I'm out of the pail and into the carboy. In ten days I'll add
> sulfites.
> Potassium and Sorbate.
> Put some of the hose dregs of my Shiraz kit in a wine glass to observe and
> study. Uggg. That smell. New wine?! I think this is what I thought was the
> "sulfite" smell. Now, upon reflection, it really may be only
> new-yeasty-wine
> smell. Am I correct? This was the haunting smell which was in bottle after
> bottle of one of my relative's wine making attempts. Really, it put me off
> home made wine. His anyway. Was this just "wine before it's time"? I by
> contrast am not impatient. Can I benefit by leaving the wine in the
> secondary for a longer period of time? Where can I use time as tool to
> improve my wine prior to bottling? Thx.
>
>
>

> tinny perhaps might describe it a little too.

Tinny could be a little too much sulfite, some say it tastes
metallic. I think all of this will round out given a little time as
Ray mentioned.

Joe