With anxious abandon, I cut the coil, pop the cork, pour a glass, and discover my treasure is nothing but a sour wine! How on earth could this have happened?
Has this ever happened to you? You’ve saved a special bottle of wine for years. For a special occasion. For a highly anticipated event. Or, for the perfect meal. Only to discover, much to your chagrin, the wine is far less than stellar. It may be sour wine. Well beyond its prime!
So how does a good wine turn into a sour wine, especially if the cork has never even been popped!? Let’s explore so you can ensure your treasured libation tastes just as magical as you dreamed!
Let’s explore the top 5 reasons a good wine might become a sour wine:
- Inconsistent storage temperature: Wine, regardless of color or quality, maintains its freshness and quality when stored consistently between 50-59 degrees F. Exposure to heat dulls a wine’s flavor turning fresh, crisp, and bright fruit flavors to dull, stewed, even bland flavors. Heat is not a friend, but a foe, of wine.
- Aging wine which shouldn’t age: Not all wine is meant to age. Only certain wines have the right balance of acidity, fruitiness, tannin (reds), and alcohol to stand the test of time. Helpful tip: wines in clear bottles are NEVER meant to be aged! Drink them now! They have no protection, like spending 6 hours in the sun with no SPF!
- Shake, rattle, and hum: While we love a good tune, a good shimmy, and the simple pleasure of shaking our groove thing, the same is not true of wine. Wine ages well in constant temperature, constant humidity (next point), and stability. Environments, where vibrations and consistent movements are ever-present, can turn a lovely wine into one quickly past its prime.
- Humidity is wine’s best friend. While it may make your lovely locks frizz on the beach, humidity is key to wine storage. Bottom line, wine relies upon its closure, often cork, to keep it safe, fresh, and vibrant. If the cork dries out due to lack of humidity, oxygen can turn the wine sour just as the air turns an exposed apple or avocado brown. Yuck.
- Open, and enjoy. Wine that has been opened has a limited shelf life. Some wines are more so than others. Once opened, wine is exposed to a myriad of elements, primarily oxygen, just waiting to turn it from dull to acrid vinegar. So if you’re willing to pop the cork, make sure you either have plenty of friends to share or have the right closure to keep it fresh as long as possible! One of my favorites is RePour! Or, check out Coravin and other professional wine preservation systems.
You may never know exactly how your amazing wine turned to sour wine. It could be one, or a combination of the above, or something unexpected. The good news is, almost everything that can make a good wine go bad can be prevented! The most simple? Pop that cork enjoy the bottle and simply enjoy without any pomp and circumstance. Simple, right?
When excitement turns to disappointment
I recently attended a “clear the cellar” event for an organization I am a member of. Sounded like a great way to try some fabulous wines I might never get my hands on otherwise. Corks pop, glasses fill, and oohs and ahhs express the magic in our glasses. Until the fateful moment… One anxiously awaited bottle, a 2015 Pinot Grigio from a top region, presents itself with enthusiasm. Of course, I’m front of the line, glass extended.
Lovely pale lemon to the eye, my expectations are high! Swirl, sniff, swirl sniff – and nothing. Absolutely nothing! It’s always possible my nose has taken a nap, so I take a sip and swish with abandon. No. Fruit. Found. Not a single reminiscence of lemon, apple, pear, or otherwise. Nada. Nuncio. Nyet. So disappointing!
It’s impossible to determine at what point in its life this poor bottle went from making us smile to leaving us uninspired. But its life is over and down the drain it goes! Holy water turned to wine this bottle is not, take my word for it!
The good news is with the right care and storage, wines meant to age can keep their thirst-quenching deliciousness for years. And, if you take only one thing away from this post, PLEASE DO NOT STORE YOUR WINE ABOVE YOUR REFRIGERATOR! Cross references #1 and #3 above. Storing wine like this will be the death of your bottles!
With a little care and attention, your wines will deliver all of the amazing goodness the winemaker put so much care and attention into for you. Cheers to fantastic sips!
